Influential centre

There was little between the sides for the first 15 minutes or so, but Bath were gaining the ascendency, and they almost went ahead when their forwards were held up over the line, only for Mr. Fox, after a ridiculous amount of time waiting for television confirmation, to decide the ball had not been grounded. As Bath pressed forward, Gomersall was given a ten minute rest, and Bath took full advantage of their extra man, to create space for Abendanon to go through a big gap to score by the posts. The excellent Barkley converted, and then struck a penalty before the Leeds were back to their full compliment, but this hardly mattered, when Claasens spotted a huge gap and darted over from 25 yards to increase the lead. Barkley again converted, and a half time score of 17 – 0 to the hosts was probably a fair reflection on the first 40 minutes.After Barkley had increased the lead by 3 points, Thomas struck a penalty, but that was to be the only time Leeds troubled the scorers, as Bath turned on the style, and ran in three more excellent tries through Banahan, Abendanon again, and then on his final appearance at the Rec., Joe Maddock.It was disappointing for the fans that had made the journey, but the team looked slightly jaded at the end of a long season, and more importantly, the result was irrelevant to Leeds. What we did see however, is a quality side at the top of their game, and if Leeds are to be serious contenders for a top six finish, we must inject some pace into the three quarters. There were stages in the game, when Leeds looked like they did early in the season, huge gaps in defence, missed tackles, lost line outs, and silly errors giving the ball away. Having said all that, they never threw in the towel. Lee Blackett did well in the many different positions he found himself in yesterday, (scrum half when Gommers was missing), and Luther Burrell defended well. While nobody had an outstanding game, my Man of the Match would go to Mike MacDonald who tackled manfully throughout and made ground when he had the ball.So the curtain comes down on a season that has to be rated a success, and we can look forward to some quality signings, and a push for a top six place next season. Well done to everyone at the club, and also to the fans. It has been exciting to say the least.

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