Sat 8 Jan 2022, 14:30
League leaders Rosslyn Park were given a fright as a spirited Leeds Tykes almost caused an upset on their return to Headingley.
The game ended 13-19, with the main difference being an interception try, an unfortunate error resulting from the Tykes’ attacking endeavour.
The match started at a frantic pace, with both sides testing each other’s defensive metal. The visitors struck first through Arthur Ellis, who crashed over at the back of a dominant scrum on two minutes. Craig Holland added the conversion to make it 0-7.
The hosts responded through Seremaia Bai Turagabeci, who raced in out wide at the end of a set move from an attacking scrum. The try was converted by Connor Lloyd to restore parity at 7-7.
Park returned to the route one approach that had served them so well before, eventually retaking the lead through captain Hugo Ellis. His try stayed unconverted, 7-12.
Leeds narrowed the gap to just two points on 22 minutes. Lloyd’s calmly struck penalty was the last noteworthy moment of the first half, which ended 10-12.
The second stanza continued in a similar vein before the match-changing moment on 59 minutes. As the Tykes sought to launch an attack from deep inside their own half, Nick Scott gleefully intercepted and offloaded to Lewis Jones, who ran in unopposed under the posts to extend Park’s lead. The simple conversion made it 10-19.
After a Charlie Venables penalty, the home side had three good chances to add more points. Each time they bravely opted to secure a try from a number of penalties, it was Leeds' errors that stopped the attacking oppotunities. In the final minutes, the Leeds defence held firm to secure a well-deserved losing bonus point.
Phil Davies, Director of Rugby, commented: "The lads performed with real spirit and purpose yesterday against the top of the table side. It’s was a huge step forward for us in terms of performance and result in comparison to the game at Rosslyn Park in September where we lost by 50 points. So our players deserved a lot of credit.
"There were opportunities in the first half where we made two clear cut chances to score two tries and that proved the difference in the end. Credit to Rosslyn Park, they are a good side but we pushed them hard.
"This augurs well for the rest of the season and our goal to climb the league table."
For more photos from the match, here's our gallery. Photos courtesy of John Ashton.
