West Leeds 13 – 22 Skipton

The form line for Skipton’s visit to West Leeds was very difficult to follow. Although the Reds had beaten the Leeds team comprehensively at Sandylands, Hullensians, Skipton’s conquerors in the EDF Vase, had lost in Bramley.

Skipton started brightly with the wind behind them pressing for early points. It was no surprise when full back Alex Naylor gave the visitors the lead with a penalty kick. The Skipton pack has had some specialist scrummaging coaching from former Leicester and England ‘A’ prop Martin Whitcombe. The emphasis has been on timing and the benefit was shown in the first try. The home pack had been under the cosh at the scrummage from the start but this time the Reds pushed them back 20 metres the arrow like control testament to the strength and front row Phil Crossman, Gavin Petterd and James Riches.

Quick transfer through half backs Adam Oldfield and Darren Howson was followed by Sean Kennedy’s sublime pass to put Naylor in for the try and the full back’s routine conversion looked to be the first of many. A devilishly tricky wind was gusting around and lineout ball, normally a bountiful source of possession for Skipton through the triumvirate of Matthew Boatwright and Richard and Malcolm Willsher, was a lottery.

Unable to make his mark in the lineouts Willsher senior incurred the wrath of the referee with some over vigorous rucking but such was Skipton’s control they never looked like conceding points during the manpower shortage and Willsher showed the benefit of the rest when, within seconds of returning, he was on hand to finish off good work by rising star James Burke.

The third try came from Oldfield when he took full advantage of the West Leeds back row’s preoccupation with shoring up their scrummage to crash over with three defenders hanging round his neck. Naylor was only able to convert one of these tries but at 0-22 things looked good. Wingers John Dillon and Hamish Munro both had chances to improve the scoreboard position but the by now desperate West Leeds defence held them out.

No-one was more surprised than the home supporters when stand off Wayne Behan strolled over for a converted try seconds before half time. When he added two drop goals, one outrageous one routine, in the first fifteen minutes of the second half a few alarms started to ring in the Skipton ranks. Ian Sneddon had worked tirelessly on the ground all day and Skipton were grateful to the open side for his work as they squeezed the life out of the game spending the final quarter of the game in the home territory but failing to extend the lead.

The welcome sight of Richard Curtin taking the field again as a second half replacement together with the versatile Chris Sheehan, augurs well for the rest of the season. Curtin brings not only his undoubted rugby skills to the party but also his fearsome will to win and youngsters like Munro and Burke can only benefit from playing alongside him.

With the points almost in the bag Skipton were grateful to Vinny Murphy for a spectacular cover tackle when Leeds broke away. The home winger seemed to be in the clear before the No 8 brought him crashing down in the final act of the match.

Why did Skipton fail to put away more convincingly a side that was clearly inferior in most aspects of the game? Firstly one must give praise to West Leeds who never gave up despite being under constant pressure but an obsession with attacking down narrow channels in the second half caused some stagnation when it was clear Skipton had the firepower and pace in Dillon, Munro, Curtin and Naylor to seriously inconvenience the hosts. There was also a tendency in the second half to try and rush things in the contact area rather than clearing out lingering defenders before presenting the ball. This gave the impression of being in possession but not control of the ball.

However, as Director of Rugby David Stevens said after the game to win when you have played badly is the sign of a good side. As the season enters its final third Skipton hold pole position, and with near rivals Thornensians and Yarnbury still the visit the bear pit that is Baildon, there is everything to play for.