Newbury had rearranged the fixture time to 12 noon, to avoid clashing with the internationals. This meant an early start for the travelling Tykes fans and, as we learned later, an early start for the players. The team had travelled down the night before, gone to bed early, and risen three hours earlier than usual so that their body clocks were ready to play at noon. For your correspondent, a start around 6:30 was needed and even then fog and accidents on the M1 and M40 meant that the ground was reached with only 20 minutes to spare.

Newbury have an impressive setup. We warmed to them at once when we noticed that the board outside the ground advertised the game against a team called "Leeds Tykes". There's a clubhouse with a small grandstand at one side of the ground, and grassy banks around the other three sides. Rugby pitches spread off from here on all directions. There was no charge to enter the clubhouse, and a goodly gathering of Tykes supporters was already inside.

It is cold, so we leave it late to set off for the opposite side of the ground. Nevertheless, a good enclave of Tykes forms at the halfway line. The Tykes start as expected, with Goodridge at full back, Hinton and Blackett on the wings, and Hepworth and Barrow in the centres. The half backs are Bedford and Di Bernado. In the pack are Pala'amo, Nilsen, Bucknall, Murphy, Pendlebury, Danny Paul, Fourie and Oakley. The last-named is wearing a fetching new vest, which attracts some comments.

Just before the start the Tykes supporters were cheered to see something that could have been Terry approaching. When it got nearer, it turned out to be Newbury's mascot, presumably one of Terry's relatives. It seemed to be a blind bear and it looked very cold. The Carnegie Challenger did not seem to be present.

Leeds kicked off, and the first few minutes saw a series of scrums in Newbury's 22. It quickly became obvious that this was going to be a long day for Newbury's pack. Leeds are totally dominant up front, and carry this on to loose play. On just five minutes, the Tykes were awarded a penalty try after Newbury collapsed a scrum once too often. The Good Doctor slotted the first of many kicks, and it was 7-0

Leeds were back down the Newbury end quickly and after more
infringements in the forwards, a Newbury player (I believe it was the splendidly named Chevvy Pennycook) saw yellow. Di Bernado grabbed the ball from the resulting penalty and quickly hoofed it over to the other side of the field. Hints collected it and dived over. The Good Doctor got the conversion from wide out and it was 14-0 and 14 minutes.

Newbury now knew that all was not well. They kept plugging away but their scrum was going backwards and any back that got the ball was quickly stopped. Shrek and Pudding were outstanding. Several Newbury players would be sick of the sight of Shrek by the end of the game.

On 19 minutes, Leeds got a penalty and kicked to the corner. Quick work at the front of the line-out sent Nilsen in at the corner, and the Doc made it 21-0. Newbury kept plugging away but it was not really a question of how many Leeds could score. On 28 minutes they were back in Newbury's 22 and an improvised back like of Fosi, Danny Paul and Little Murph put Murph in at the corner. By now it was obvious that the Doc would convert, and it was 28-0.

Two more tries were to follow before the break. On 36, there was a scrum on the Leeds right about 30 metres out from the Newbury line. A miss move in the back saw Hints through, and he fed Jaffa for the score. The Doc made it 35-0. Leeds were still defending well, putting in some fearsome tackles when Newbury had the ball. On 40 minutes, a Newbury player lost the ball and from the scrum Barrow and the Doc did a runaround move straight off the training ground, and put Blackett in the corner. The Doc was enjoying his kicking practice and it was 42-0 at the half.

A hasty trip into the clubhouse (no charge) for warmth followed. Some of the Newbury faithful were less than happy with the referee. True, some of his decisions seemed a little eccentric and he really did like his shiny whistle, but on the whole he seemed to have a reasonable game.

Out for the second half, and Boyde was introduced for Oakley. Just two minutes into the half and Leeds got a line-out on their left. Clean ball was won, and the Doc produced a sublime inside pass to Blackett, who was over the line. Doc, conversion, you know, 49-0.

Four minutes later it was more of the same for Newbury. They were pinged for offside after some sold Leeds pressure. Bedford picked up the ball and wandered over the line to make it 54-0, and the Doc followed up for 56-0. The backs were now giving some sort of passing exhibition, which only stopped when the forwards managed to nick the ball and ruble around a bit. Leeds knocked on on 8 minutes but this was not a problem as Newbury were unceremoniously shoved off their own ball. Shrek broke away and fed Boyde to make it 63-0 with the conversion.

Now the substitution circus started, with Strange, Lund and McGee on for Pendlebury, Goodridge and Pala'amo (not in that order). This was really were things started to go wrong, as Leeds lost their shape. The Doc, who had been running things at stand-off was moved to fullback and Strange never managed the same control. Shortly after, White came on for Bedford and it began to look as if some of the Leeds side needed to be introduced to one another.

Newbury kept plugging away, and to their credit they kept trying to play rugby. There were none of the cynical penalties and time-wasting that we have sometimes seen before when Leeds are winning well. They turned down several reasonably kickable penalties in favour of kicking to the corner to go for the try. On 18 minutes they tried another kick; this was gathered by Nilsen who fed Hepworth. The usual mazy run followed, including an outrageous dummy, and Hepworth was over. Strange was kicking by now, and he made it 70-0.

Newbury still kept plugging away, and eventually their reward came. A good back move across the field put their winger over. The Tykes supporters sportingly applauded the try, and Newbury's comeback was on at 70-5.

On 22 minutes Brooks (remember him?) came on for Hepworth, meaning that the Leeds backline now consisted of four half backs and three centres. Unsurprisingly, it took a while to adjust to the new setup and it was left to the forwards to assist with the next score. On 24 minutes, Nilsen took a quick line-out throw to White at the front. White gave it back to Nilsen, who made good ground. The ball went out to Blackett, who barged through. Strange missed the kick, so it was 75-5.

Newbury still kept plugging away. They were helped considerably when injuries in their front row forced the game to go to uncontested scrums. They opted for a scrum from a penalty wide on the Leeds 22 (something that would have been unthinkable with contested scrums), got clean ball and moved it quickly to the far touchline, putting their winger over. The Tykes supporters sportingly applauded the try, and Newbury's comeback was on at 75-12 with 30 minutes gone.

Not to be outdone by this, Leeds went straight up to Newbury's end, and executed an almost identical move from another uncontested scrum that put Hinton over for his second. Strange got the kick this time, and it was 82-12 with about five minutes to play.

On 34 minutes, Danny Paul, who had been limping for some time, left the field. Although Rawlo was on the bench, Leeds opted not to introduce a substitute, and so played the last five minutes or so voluntarily down to fourteen men.

Leeds kept going, as did Newbury. Newbury were held up over the Leeds line shortly before the end, but the Tykes were to have the last say. Leeds produced a sequence of many, many phases on the Newbury line and eventually Blackett forced his way over. Strange made the last kick of the game, to give the final score of 89-12 to the Tykes.

So it was back to the clubhouse (still no charge) for a quick beer and to watch the internationals. Most of the Newbury folk were graceful in defeat and complimentary about the Leeds team. We learned something of the financial problems at Newbury (half the side were loan players from Bristol, we were told) and their concerns about the RFU's changes to the league structure.

So, overall, this was a comprehensive victory. The fact that Exeter won "only" 37-20 on the same ground against the same team may or may not be significant. The lack of continuity when the substitutes came on is probably the only concern. Shrek was the clear man of the match for Leeds;  he was everywhere, all the time.

The gate for the game was reported as 316. Tykes supporters must have made up at least 10% of this. Imagine if we'd managed that at Exeter!

Leeds: Goodridge; Hinton, Hepworth, Barrow, Blackett; di Bernado,
Bedford; Pala'amo, Nilsen, Bucknall, Pendlebury, Murphy, Paul, Fourie, Oakley.
Subs: Strange (for Goodridge), Brooks (for Hepworth), White (for
Bedford), McGee (for Pala'amo), Lund (for Pendlebury), Boyde (for
Oakley). Not used: Rawlinson.
Tries: Penalty, Hinton (2), Nilsen, Murphy, Goodridge, Blackett (4),
Bedford, Boyde, Hepworth.
Conversions: di Bernado (10), Strange (2).
Ref: Terry Hall

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