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Leeds slip Notts, but only just.


By Haxbytyke
March 30 2014

With just 50 minutes showing on the clock, Oli Goss made a break, and sent Alex Lozowski haring over the line to give Leeds what would have been their bonus point try, and a 30 point lead. However, the final pass was ruled to be forward, and from then on almost everything went downhill.

The game had started quietly, Hughes and Jarvis exchanging early penalties, but 16 minutes in Lozowski made a half break, Hughes went clear, and gave the supporting Dave Doherty a clear run in from 30 yards. Hughes tagged on the extras, and Leeds were up and running.

Notts. had a half chance following a break in midfield, but Leeds defended well, eventually holding up the hosts player over the line. Old, bad habits were creeping in, lost possession, and silly penalties were stopping Leeds’ flow, but just before half time, a sniping run from Hampson sent Hughes away, and his long pass saw Oli Goss racing in from 25 yards. Hughes converted, and added another penalty before the break, and at 20 points to 3, Leeds were well in command.

The second period had only just started when a clever kick from Hampson bounced kindly for Goss, but the final pass went to ground and the chance was gone. Fred Burdon limped off, and Casson was replaced by Doyle, and for almost the first time Notts applied some pressure, only a last ditch tackle forcing the winger to touch saving a try.

More replacements, and more Nottingham pressure, but Leeds held firm, and 3 successive penalties awarded by the less than impressive Mr. Fox, took Leeds the length of the field. Good pressure from close in ended with Vickerman crashing over under the posts. Hughes did the rest, it was 27 – 3 and the avalanche of tries was on its way.

More replacements for both sides and the tries came, but for Nottingham. 3 well taken tries in the last 10 minutes had the alarm bells ringing, luckily they were wide enough out to make the conversions difficult. Jarvis did put the last one over, to give the hosts a losing bonus point. How much it meant to them was shown as every Notts. player ran to him when the flags went up.

Man of the match is a 4 way choice. Craig Hampson had a very good game while he was on, and in the loose, Phil Nilsen was tremendous, but his throwing today was erratic, and he made way after an hour. David Sisi carried the ball in all afternoon, and did his share of defending, but having thought about it, my bottle of pop is going to Glyn Hughes. He was involved with both first half tries; he kicked well, and never shirked a tackle all afternoon. Well done Glyn

So a win, and now, almost certainly a top four finish. But Leeds have not played like they can do for the last three games, and this is worrying. The line out which was working like clockwork earlier is not functioning at all. Poor throwing, poor options, and at times poor jumping need to be addressed quickly. The front row are giving away penalties like presents. Why, it cannot be the referee every time?

Even more worrying, the injuries are piling up. Fred Burdon, and Jon Clarke, both came off today with nasty looking knocks, we cannot afford to lose two more midfield players. We also learned that Ben Harris is unlikely to play again this season. Any hope of rotating a few players for the B and I cup is disappearing, Leeds are down to the bare bones regarding available players. A bit of good news on the injury front would not go amiss.

Well done to the fans who travelled today, it wasn’t pretty at times, but we got the win.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Leeds slip Notts, but only just.
Discussion started by TykesRugby.co.uk (IP Logged), 30/03/2014 22:08
TykesRugby.co.uk
TykesRugby.co.uk
30/03/2014 22:08
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:04:13:20:00:05 by Wildwillie .

Carnegiette1
Carnegiette1
30/03/2014 22:38
Good write up of an ugly win!

I honestly am not concerned where in the top 4 we finish (as long as we do) but the lack of momentum is a worry. We should be kicking on now, and we're not, we're going backwards.

Great quiz on the bus by the way- Thank you!

MESSAGES->author
Rocky
31/03/2014 10:11
Thanks for the review Hax. Here is a longer interview with J-Lo by BBC Leeds following the match -> Audioboo.

JohnnyP
JohnnyP
31/03/2014 12:21
Great summary Haxby, personally I felt that the half time score line was very harsh on Notts who were very competitive throughout and they fully deserved their bonus point.

Difference between the two sides was how clinical we were with the few opportunities that came our way. In marked contrast Notts failed to capitalise on their possession and territorial advantage, and their kicking return was in contrast poor. Thought we were about to run riot when we got the third try, and that Notts were dead on their feet as they went through a phase of conceding a number of quick fire penalties which must have been close to a card. However, it didn’t work out that way and I was very grateful to hear the final whistle.

Less said about the second half really the better but no surprise the cohesion went when you consider the injuries both going into the game and those taken during. Fact that we lost both centres didn’t help and game and talented No 8 though Jarrad Williams is, don’t think it is unkind to say that he isn’t a 12. Notts were on fire at the end and from what I could see the line speed of the Leeds defence dropped away alarmingly.

Does raise the question whether we have the split of forwards to backs right on the bench. Apart from the four points not really much to shout about really. In a pack that was in general second best Sisi was the most prominent. Biggest plus is the form of Glyn Hughes who seems to have put to bed the place kicking issues of early season. IMHO he’s now beginning to look the complete package.

Set piece is my main concern as we do seem to be getting by on less than our fair share of decent possession at the moment. Would be nice to hear how the injured are progressing as I fear we won’t get enough decent ball against the other top end Championship sides to do ourselves justice in the play offs. Very worrying to see both starting centres carrying what looked to be serious injuries after the game. Still we’re nearly guaranteed a play off berth ,and I don’t think it matters whether we play Bristol or Welsh to be honest as there’s not much between them.

MESSAGES->author
almostatyke
31/03/2014 12:25
Quote:
Carnegiette1
Good write up of an ugly win!

Agree 100% Nice one Hax.

MESSAGES->author
leemingtyke
31/03/2014 12:49
Thanks Haxby and cheers for the audio clip Rocky,

Sounds like we were below par again and J-Lo sounds p1ss3d off, which is good to know after 3 poor performances on the bounce. Time to kick some backsides I reckon.

Jimmy hits the nail on the head when he says that tiredness cannot be an excuse. In the Premiership 3 poor performances will equal 3 heavy losses and we need to be at Premiership standard before we (hopefully) get there.

Did the scrum perform any better than it did against Bris?

MESSAGES->author
Baaartman
31/03/2014 13:03
Quote:
leemingtyke

Did the scrum perform any better than it did against Bris?

Not really in my opinion - they were worse!

Life is what you make of it - you only get 1 so enjoy it

MESSAGES->author
Madtyke
31/03/2014 13:49
I thought the scrum performed as well as Notts, ref and touch judges allowed it to. Leeds frontrow (TuTU in particular) were having difficulty understanding Mr Fox's interpretation and were being pinged by the ref whilst the Notts loosehead was allowed to tuck his arm under and drive in.

Mr Fox showed with his handling if this game (it was generally inept for both sides) that he should hang his whistle up pronto, as he missed more than he saw and seemed confused by his also inept assistants words of advice.

If I had paid £19 to watch the ref blow his whistle constantly whilst re-setting the scrum for the enth time, I'd have certainly got value for money yesterday.

[www.arborfieldoldboys.co.uk]

MESSAGES->author
leemingtyke
31/03/2014 19:01
Sounds like McGee and Baldwin have got some work on then!

Am I right in thinking that we get Premiership referees in the play offs? I think we did last year and from what I remember they were two of the most enjoyable games of the entire season.

It's better to be having our wobble now rather than in the play offs I suppose but we need to get over it soon to instil some confidence in us long suffering supporters.

The backline is hugely unsettled at the moment which worries me as does our lack of wingers. Goss looks good against the lesser teams but I'd like to see him have a really big game against another top4 side. There's a difference between being a fine athlete and a fine rugby player. The (rumoured) Josh Griffin situation is disappointing as well. I like Josh, he's always played well when I've seen him, mostly in the centres. If he's challenged Jimmys authority in some way though then there can only be one outcome.

Onwards and upwards - in Jimmy we trust!

MESSAGES->author
Beeston Lion
31/03/2014 19:32
Don't have un-necessarily high expectations regarding Premiership Refs. This season we have had included, amongst our
weekly allocation, the services of Tim Wigglesworth, Dean Richards and Greg Garner all of whom are top level regulars and although I don't know what his current situation is, Martin Fox is certainly ex Premiership.

ellishicks
ellishicks
31/03/2014 19:54
Thanks Hax and for the comments from everyone who went to the match. It's interesting to get all those opinions. Injuries seem to have knocked the shine off our season.

MESSAGES->author
JDH
31/03/2014 21:50
if harris is out for the season its a blow but not a bad replacement in beech

MESSAGES->author
almostatyke
31/03/2014 22:11
Beech played well Sunday - putting in a try-saving tackle in the first half and generally playing well when not in a scrum.
The Nottingham open-side prop is either the best scrummer and tackler in the world or the referee was, ahem, being conned. 2sacks was pulled down in every scrum.

haxbytyke
Haxbytyke
31/03/2014 22:21
Quote:
almostatyke
Beech played well Sunday - putting in a try-saving tackle in the first half and generally playing well when not in a scrum.
The Nottingham open-side prop is either the best scrummer and tackler in the world or the referee was, ahem, being conned. 2sacks was pulled down in every scrum.

And this is where Jacob has to talk to the referee when our props are penalised. In the last two games, the opposing captains have been quick to get in the referee's ear when things don't go their way, Leeds just seem to accept it and get on with the game. Give the ref something else to look for, don't let him take the easy option.

COME ON LEEDS.
We've been through it all together.

MESSAGES->author
Madtyke
31/03/2014 23:14
As I said on the day, Jacob is too keen to get back into a defensive line when we getted pinged at the scrum and doesn't appear eager to query as to what the ref saw! Maybe he's the wrong man/position to be captain, yes a nice guy who plays his heart out for Leeds but too nice a guy to have as captain. Plug would be a good captain, talks the talk and doesn't generally shirk his role.

[www.arborfieldoldboys.co.uk]

MESSAGES->author
JDH
01/04/2014 20:53
Plug gives away to many pens and the cap needs to play 80mins

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