By *baldric*
December 2 2005

So, it’s Powergen Cup time again? Not much in it for Leeds Tykes anymore is there? Still the current cup holders, but there’s not going to be a repeat this season. So is there any real point to this game?

Well, there’re two points of view on that one.

1) Yes – winning is a habit, and after at last getting a couple of results we should be aiming to win them all.  Putting out the strongest team possible is the only option.  We’re not in a position to ‘rest’ our key players.

2) Yes, but not as much as the GP.  Use the opportunity to give some of the fringe players a run out.  Blood a couple of youngsters.  Winning would be nice, but as we cannot progress to the next round, we may as well use the opportunity for development.

It appears the Tykes management prefer option 2, as the team is, to say the least, somewhat different to normal.  Gone is the front row, as are Morgan, Parks, Dunbar, Crane (how quickly he’s become a ‘seasoned pro’ to us?), Snyman, and De Marigney.  Not forgetting Mr Mercurial – Justin Marshall. 

In their place come some welcome returnees, and a few new faces.  It’s debut day for Roland Reid at last, along with Andy Rock and Kearnan Myall (I confess I know nothing of either so this should be interesting).  Danny Care gets a chance to show Mr Marshall he has an able understudy, and Tom Biggs returns to fly down the wing and fling himself at people much bigger than him again. Cusack, Bulloch and Isaacson make up the new front row, with Hyde getting a start and Nathan Thomas retuning to the team to round off the ten man change from the starting line-up against Bath.  Chris Bell also gets a look-in for the first time this season, starting on the bench.

Remember though, whilst it is a young team, it is a team with little to lose. Win and they’re heroes.  Lose, and we all simply say ‘well, it wasn’t the proper team was it’. Last year in the European Shield, two of the best games of the season were the semi-finals against Worcester with a similar set of circumstances. Here’s hoping for a repeat (though with a different overall outcome…)

Newcastle by comparison still have everything to play for in the competition.  A crushing win over Sale, followed by a tight defeat to Llanelli leave them second in the group and looking to advance with a little help from Sale.  With this in mind they make just two changes to the team which beat Wasps on Sunday, both enforced due to injury to May and England sevens duty for Tait.  James Hoyle and Joe Shaw come in to replace them.  Don’t expect the Falcons to treat this game as a pleasant run-around.  They have a cup to win!

The teams in full

Leeds: Doherty; Rock, Vickerman, C Jones, Biggs; Ross, Care; Cusack, Bulloch, Isaacson; Myall, Hooper; Thomas, Hyde, Reid.

Replacements: Kerr, Paul, Dunbar, Murphy, McMillan, Vasey, Bell.

Newcastle: Burke (capt); Hoyle, Noon, Mayerhofler, Shaw; Flood, Grindal; Ward, Long, Morris; Perry, Parling; McCarthy, Harris, Smithson.

Replacements: Paoletti, Thompson, Buist, Charvis, Finegan, Phillips, Walder.

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