We defeated both of the two latter clubs in early RFU Cup ties, Roundhay in 1976 on the way to our first Twickenham triumph. We met Headingley, a regular opponent on our pre-league fixture list, in each of the first four seasons of league rugby, each side winning twice. In the summer of 1991 Roundhay and Headingley merged to form Leeds RUFC, initially based at Chandos Park but in 1996 they moved to Headingley, the home of Leeds Rhinos, and ten years after their formation won promotion to the Premiership. The Falcons won the first three meetings with few fireworks, but in February 2003, the return game of the 2002-03 season, came a match that no Falcon present will ever, ever forget. (N.B. Sorry to keep featuring matches from this season, but they were important ones!)

It was a cold, dark Friday night at Headingley, we were bottom of the league with seven games left, but a win over Harlequins the previous weekend had rallied us and a win would lift us above Bath. New signing Mark Mayerhofler was missing, but the inspirational Mark Andrews did take the field alongside Stuart Grimes at lock. Three Braam van Straaten penalties gave the Tykes a 9-0 half time lead, before in the second half Tom Palmer was sin-binned and we took full advantage, captain Jonny Wilkinson scoring try which he converted himself. However, until the 78th minute we remained behind, until Wilkinson kicked a penalty to give us the lead. Would we gain a precious win, our first away in the Premiership for a year? Alas, Andrew Mower was given a yellow card, and another van Straaten penalty and it appeared we wouldn’t gain the four points after all.

BUT, there was more. The Falcons attacked on the left, Jamie Noon breaking down the line before passing (to cries of "Forward!") to Michael Stephenson, who was tackled. This all happened right in front of me, I remember it like it was yesterday. Time stood still as the ball went loose from the ruck, but BACKWARDS… and there was replacement Hall Charlton steaming through, picking up the ball with only one thing on his mind. The few Geordies amongst a then-Leeds record crowd of 7,027 screaming, Charlton crossed the line for a miraculous try, which together with Wilkinson’s conversion gave us a vital victory in the battle against relegation.

After the match, the boys came to us and we all mutually applauded. As the players walked off, Jon Dunbar (who moved to Headingley in the summer) turned to us, threw his arms aloft and screamed his satisfaction at the result, even though he didn’t come on as a replacement until the 78th minute. What team spirit!

Since then we have lost at home to Leeds last February, and drew 30-30 at Headingley in March. Our competitive record against Leeds, and previously Headingley and Roundhay, reads as follows:

15/12/73 Clarence Field RFU Knock-Out 1st round W22-12*

13/3/76 Chandos Park RFU Knock-Out QF W14-3**

10/10/87 Clarence Field Courage League Division 2 L7-26*

14/1/89 North Road Courage League Division 2 W29-14*

13/1/90 Clarence Field Courage League Division 2 L10-17*

17/11/90 Clarence Field Courage League Division 2 W18-7*

21/10/01 Kingston Park Zurich Premiership W19-8

20/1/02 Headingley Powergen Cup QF W41-24

10/2/02 Headingley Zurich Premiership W19-9

29/9/02 Kingston Park Zurich Premiership W27-20

7/2/03 Headingley Zurich Premiership W17-12

15/2/04 Kingston Park Zurich Premiership L25-28

28/3/04 Headingley Zurich Premiership D30-30

Total: P13 W9 D1 L3 F278 A210

Home: P4 W3 D0 L1 F100 A70

Away: P9 W6 D1 L2 F178 A140

* v Headingley.

** v Roundhay.

And so to 2004/05, and Newcastle v Leeds at Kingston Park. After following up Heineken Cup qualification in 2003 with a disappointing eleventh place in the Premiership last season, our visitors find themselves a respectable sixth after eight matches of this campaign, with four wins and four defeats. However, all of their games bar a 42-20 defeat at Welford Road have been close, Leeds and their opponents never being separated by more than six points. Thus, they have three losing bonus points but none for try scoring.

On bonfire night while we visited Sale, Leeds took on Northampton at Headingley in front of a disappointing 3,247 fans. However, they turned on the style with a 26-21 win courtesy of Mark Regan and Chris Bell, both converted by Gordon Ross, who added four penalties. Leeds’ good league form will go some way to lessening the pain of losing in the European Challenge Cup first round to Grenoble and suffering the anonymity of playing in the European Shield, though they must be one of if not the favourites to win this tournament.

As this is international weekend L, we will lose Stuart Grimes to Scotland and Hall Charlton to England, as well as Colin Charvis who also appeared for Wales last week. Leeds on the other hand lose only influential fly-half Gordon Ross to Scotland, though Duncan Hodge is injured too. They still possess two excellent British Lion backs, Iain Balshaw and Tim Stimpson, as well as 1997 tourist Mark Regan, however, and of course our old boy Jon Dunbar will be keen to put on a good performance.

I know I said this last week, but I will say it again this week, we must win on Sunday as we have slipped to ninth in the table after losing at Sale. We are eleven points off the top three, not too much to make up, but only four behind Bath in fifth, a much more realistic target. The Heineken Cup is fantastic, but it is a bonus to be doing well in that so far. We need to transfer that form into the Premiership if we are to be back in the European Cup next season and, without wanting to be disrespectful to Leeds, this match is one a team with ambitions of being in the top three really should win.

The teams, Falcons first:-

15 Matthew Burke
14 Tom May
13 Jamie Noon
12 Epi Taione
11 Michael Stephenson
10 Dave Walder
9 James Grindal

1 Ian Peel (captain)
2 Andy Long
3 Marius Hurter
4 Craig Hamilton
5 Andy Buist
6 Semo Sititi
7 Cory Harris
8 Phil Dowson

Micky Ward
James Isaacson
Mike McCarthy
Geoff Parling
Lee Dickson
Joe Shaw
Mathew Tait

and then the Tykes:-

15 Tim Stimpson
14 Iain Balshaw
13 Chris Bell
12 Andre Snyman
11 David Rees
10 Gareth Wright
09 Alan Dickens
01 Mike Shelley
02 Mark Regan
03 Rayno Gerber
04 Scott Morgan
05 Tom Palmer (captain)
06 Jon Dunbar
07 Colm Rigney
08 Alix Popham
16 Matt Holt
17 Rob Rawlinson
18 Chris Murphy
19 Pierre Uys
20 Mark McMillan
21 Gordon Ross/Tom Biggs (dependent on whether Ross is available after the Scotland game)
22 Diego Albanese

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