Match Report: West Leeds 16 - 11 Doncaster Phoenix

this time old foes West Leeds welcomed Phoenix to their Blue Hill Lane ground, and despite the bright sunshine on the afternoon, heavy rain overnight meant that the match was played on a heavy, muddy pitch more suited to West Leeds' heavier pack.

The previous week's loss against league leaders Pocklington meant fourth place Phoenix were now playing for little more than pride, with chances of promotion all but gone, and little danger of being dragged into a relegation battle. And perhaps this was the reason for Phoenix making a slow start to the match, as almost from the kick-off, West Leeds recycled the ball and spun it out to their left winger who rounded Phoenix's cover defence to dive over wide out on the left for an unconverted try.

The early setback sparked Phoenix into life, and they managed to begin to put together some good phases of play with youngsters Adam Tamanis and James Watson to the fore. However, Phoenix were guilty of several unforced errors, with balls knocked on and 50-50 passes being thrown out rather than held on to. Eventually though, after putting some good phases together a great flat pass from Joe Watts found hooker James Watson on the hoof and he finished off well for an unconverted try in the corner.

As was the story of the day for Phoenix though, this good work was almost immediately undone with a soft penalty conceded in their 22, which was easily converted to push West Leeds back into the lead at 8-5.

Again, this setback sparked Phoenix into life and some clever kicks to the corners from fly-half Dan Storey allowed Phoenix to gain some territory, and when West Leeds conceded a penalty in their 22, Storey used the advantage to drop back into the pocket and land a drop goal to tie up the scores at 8-8.

Phoenix though again took their foot off the pedal, conceding several more soft penalties in their 22, however Phoenix were lucky that the West Leeds kicker wasn't having a great day with the boot and landed only 1 of these attempts, leaving the half time score at 11-8.

Phoenix started the second half brightly, Storey landing an early penalty to level up the scores, but once again Phoenix errors allowed West Leeds to gain territory, and the killer blow was struck 20 minutes into the half, when a Phoenix knock-on was picked up by the gangly West Leeds centre who went through the broken field before feeding his prop who flopped over for an unconverted try.

Phoenix came back at West Leeds, with strong runs from centre Tim Elliot and full-back Chris Conway, however on both occasions’ wrong options taken at vital times allowed West Leeds off the hook.

West Leeds then threatened to extend their lead, when another fumble from Doncaster Phoenix was fly-hacked on fully 80 metres, all that was left for the big-mouthed West Leeds centre to do was touch the ball down, however he somehow managed to knock the ball on when it would have been easier to score. Strangely though the referee somehow didn't see this 80 metre gain from West Leeds as an advantage to them and awarded them a penalty back deep within their own half.

A massive hit from 17 year old debutant Jordan Ajimati was the only other moment of note in the match as West Leeds kept Phoenix out for the final 5 minutes, a marginal forward pass preventing a Phoenix try in the corner with almost the final play of the game.

Phoenix came away disappointed, knowing they really should have won this match. However, it was a good experience for the young players in the Phoenix squad who will now know exactly what will be required to beat Ripon next week on what will be another heavy, forward friendly pitch. With 8 league matches left in the season, Phoenix will now want to put a run together and build for a more consistent season next year.

Match Report: Dan Greenslade