Yorkshire Carnegie
Will it be Seventh Heaven for the Carnegie Men?
Looking for prey?
By Zandra LaPoi
November 22 2011
It was back in September, at a surprisingly green Clifton Lane, that the loyal Lemonheads amongst us thought we would get our first Championship ‘W’. I mean, it’s Rotherham and we were Leeds so what could go wrong? Well, it did go wrong, we got a losing BP, but no win. That day we played what I would say was the strongest team we could, and although we pushed them close in the second half, our pack were pushed around the pitch and we lost the game to a well bedded in, Championship-wise Rotherham side.
So, where are we both nearly three months down the line then?
I’ll start with the visitors, The Mighty Titans. In the last 13 years we have played Rotherham nine times, out of those we have won six and Rotherham three. This season, Andre Bester’s men sit a comfortable fifth in the table, one place above us and have now taken on the role of ‘Carnegie Prey’ to be hunted down by our young hawks. Rotherham have won the same number of games but have drawn one and have four more BPs than us. Last week they beat Doncaster, 23 – 10, and can now proudly boast a 100% unbeaten, league home record for this campaign, a bragging right that always used to be ours. The main highlight to their season so far was their demolition of Bristol, a 44 – 6 home win that no one would have predicted. Their standout player so far has been Garry Law, their fly-half who seems to be nailing his kicks for fun and so far this season has amassed 161 points in his 11 games. What is it with Rotherham and kickers, have they some bizarre breeding program? Others to watch are Robin Copeland, second row, and Shane Monahan, left wing, who are also scoring at will,they will need to be watched very closely.
And now on to the Carnegie Kids Men. Now I know we haven’t been playing the sort of champagne rugby that would dazzle all comers but we are starting to grind out results, results that at the beginning of the season would never have been in our sights. The Esher game, I felt, had the potential to be a massive banana skin for us. After the Lord Mayor’s Show and all that. There we were on the back of five league wins playing the bottom team in the League, who had yet to earn a point. It wasn’t pretty BUT we got the points and in the words of Martin Johnson, ‘better to win ugly than lose pretty’. Last week, we welcomed Big Mac and Titts back, who both came off the bench and got valuable match time under their belts. I am sure Diccon has a team in mind to compete against the Rotherham pack, as he said after the Esher game; we are not as big in the forwards as some teams so we have to be deceptive and sneaky. Discipline let us down again at Esher and it was only because the Esher kicker missed a number of kicks that we won. As Garry Law is kicking for fun we really need to be on the ball in this area, otherwise we might find ourselves playing catch up really early on. Also, here’s hoping we get a referee that will let the game flow, not like last week’s ref, who seemed to be trying to set a new whistle blowing record and ruined any chance of a free flowing game.
So, how do I see the game going? The five try bonanza at Goldington Road aside, the Headingley faithful have yet to see our backs running amok and scoring a bag-full of tries. We are still committing way too many errors in our attacking phases, passing, catching (or lack of) however, there will come a time when we click, in all departments, and I predict that game will be against Rotherham under the Friday Night Lights when we make it seven league wins on the bounce!
See you there!
Marching On Together!
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22/11/2011 19:16
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:11:27:10:25:04 by Wildwillie.
As Willie says elsewhere, the next three games will be a good yardstick of our progress to date. Roth have made a lot of people sit up and take notice again this season, Bester seems to have worked his magic again. However I hope our boys will take full revenge for the Clifton Lane defeat earlier in the season.
COME ON YEW 'NEGIE-TYKES!!
Miserati - and Proud to be!
Super Leeds to edge it by 3 and win back some bragging rights in God's own county!
Anyway I hope its a good game on friday, nice to see you've turned your season around.
Miserati - and Proud to be!
I love Sam Lockwood's attitude - but he's about to channel the aggression in the right way.
Did anyone else catch the sheepish look on Mustafa's face when he came on and the crowd were shouting ' "Beast, Beast, Beast"?
Isn't it amazing what a lot of team spirit and a dose of self belief does?
All together now, Ding Dong Merrily On High!!!
Zandra YaPoI
YaPoI - Yorkshire and Proud of It
'proficiscor in una'
Quote:simmo291
boyz to men !
Didn't Michael Jackson think that was a delivery service?
Got my coat
