Preview: Newcastle v Leeds
By Mark Cotton
December 28 2009
The first of two crucial Bank-Holiday matches takes place at Kingston Park on Sunday when Leeds Carnegie travel to the North East to take on the Newcastle Falcons. The Leeds management must be hoping that players are responding well to treatment following a bruising encounter with the Bucaresti Oaks.
December 28 2009
The first of two crucial Bank-Holiday matches takes place at Kingston Park on Sunday when Leeds Carnegie travel to the North East to take on the Newcastle Falcons. The Leeds management must be hoping that players are responding well to treatment following a bruising encounter with the Bucaresti Oaks.
Leigh Hinton, Cieron Thomas, and Richard Welding left the field early and painfully but it would appear that the former two are in contention to feature in Sunday’s game, although ‘Sparky’ may be out for longer and this possibly opens the door for Scott Armstrong to make a league start. Doesn’t look as though either winger will be up against former favourite Tom Biggs but the centres look as though they can face up to ex-Headingley star and part-time Toptyke fall guy Rob Vickerman. As far as the rest of the team goes Backy and Kiwi look to be able to pick from pretty much a full squad with both Andy Titterell and Henry Fa’afili aiming to secure a place in the matchday squad too.
The two sides have had contrasting fortunes since battling out a 9-9 draw at the start of the season. Whilst Leeds have struggled for points, a solitary but deserved win at Wasps providing the bulk of them, Newcastle have fared a little better with an equally unexpected win at London Irish arguably providing their highlight to date. However it would probably be fair to say that once more the Falcons are consistently inconsistent and must be grateful to the lamentable form of the teams below them in the league to help them attain their lofty position of 7th.
Newcastle, welcoming back talismatic captain Carl Hayman, must fancy their chances of taking the points in this Yuletide fixture and certainly have the edge over the ‘Negies in results between the two to date. However should the Yorkshire side put together the 80 minute performance that they have been threatening for the last few matches then there is no reason to suppose that they couldn’t repeat their solitary victory at Kingston Park in 2004. Form counts for nothing in these full-blooded ‘local’ derbies and provided the game goes ahead following the inclement weather it can be guaranteed that no quarter will be given or asked for by either side. Any point Leeds can glean from this fixture must be seen as a bonus, but a good performance and no injuries must equally set them up for the relegation decider against Bath the following week.
The two sides have had contrasting fortunes since battling out a 9-9 draw at the start of the season. Whilst Leeds have struggled for points, a solitary but deserved win at Wasps providing the bulk of them, Newcastle have fared a little better with an equally unexpected win at London Irish arguably providing their highlight to date. However it would probably be fair to say that once more the Falcons are consistently inconsistent and must be grateful to the lamentable form of the teams below them in the league to help them attain their lofty position of 7th.
Newcastle, welcoming back talismatic captain Carl Hayman, must fancy their chances of taking the points in this Yuletide fixture and certainly have the edge over the ‘Negies in results between the two to date. However should the Yorkshire side put together the 80 minute performance that they have been threatening for the last few matches then there is no reason to suppose that they couldn’t repeat their solitary victory at Kingston Park in 2004. Form counts for nothing in these full-blooded ‘local’ derbies and provided the game goes ahead following the inclement weather it can be guaranteed that no quarter will be given or asked for by either side. Any point Leeds can glean from this fixture must be seen as a bonus, but a good performance and no injuries must equally set them up for the relegation decider against Bath the following week.
Bookmark or share this story with:
Digg
Delicious
Facebook
Reddit
Stumbleupon| 28 Dec, 2009 10:41 | Report |
|
TykesRugby.co.uk (IP Logged) Unregistered User |
Preview: Newcastle v Leeds
What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
Reply•Quote
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
