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Back to rugby with battle at Burley
Sam Humphrey18 May 2021 - 17:00
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Match report by James Hiley
On Saturday a group of the Leeds Mods 1st XV warriors made the trip down to Burley Park to play their first game of contact rugby in over 14 months. The game started and everyone was eager to sprint out the blocks and put hits in, a very even first 10 minutes, some very physical hits from both teams. 11 minutes in and Burley scored their first try under the posts 7-0, shortly after disaster struck for Mods as prop Bayliss came off with a suspected bicep tear, a major blow for the mods a quick regroup and re-focus we got ourselves on the score board, a very power run from Bowker, Charlie and Harry with a offload to Garry score in the corner no conversion.
A few minutes later Mods center Rob was off with a shoulder injury, which meant we had to borrow two Burley players, again injury struck Sam Love had a head injury scare but survived the concussion test. Dan Bowker had a slight knee tweak, freeze spray applied back in the game. A few minutes later Rob made a return to the field with a huge carry. Penalty to mods, an excellent kick from fly-half twiggy saw a mods line out on halfway, unfortunately the rain started to come down hard and a knock on the wing saw Burley score under the post's easy conversion 14-5. Mods fought back hard and seconds after the re-start and another huge carry from Rob saw Mods receive a penalty in the oppositions 22, a quick tap from cheets off loaded to Sam Love and a beautiful pass to Dan Bowker saw him dive over in the corner, James’ conversion straight as a dart just fell a yard short of the cross bar. Burley piled the pressure on again, a huge defensive tackle from Scott on a huge Burley second row, saw him secure the ball back and sent the ball 40 meters down the field, Burley were able to move all the way over to the right, to fake a 4 on 2 before switching and scoring in the corner good conversion 21-10, half time came soon after a crunching double tackle by Bowker and Harry sending Burley’s 13 into touch.
3 minutes into the second half and Burley score from a miscommunication in the Mods defensive line, Burley were under the post’s 28-10. From kick off Mods pilled on the pressure straight away, great aggressive defensive play from the mods allowed Scott to turn over the ball in a tackle an excellent recovery from Dan Bowker he was in the corner for another try, James was very close to the target with the conversion from about 37 meters out however the ball just drifted past the upright 28-15. The heavy rain began to fall and 5 minutes later a quick tap from Burley and an excellent move demonstrated by the backs saw Burley slide into the corner, missing the conversion attempt 38-15.
The rain continued to fall heavy and with a slipped tackle and a huge sold dummy saw Burley under the posts yet again and an easy conversion made it 38-15, heavy rain and poor conditions made the next 10 minutes an exchange of quick tap penalties and knock-on restarts. 60 minutes in and Burley expose another defensive hole and number 12 went on a run before full back Gary put in a fantastic tackle, but lack of support meant Burley slid into the corner and missed the conversion 43-15
An extremely lucky bounce off the restart and a chip ahead left the ball falling straight into Burley hands another try under the posts made it 50-15. A rush defence from the restart left a big hole in which Mods capitalized a slight pass to Dan Bowker saw him slide into the corner for his hat-trick, another difficult conversion and miss from James falling just short of the crossbar, a strained hamstring meant that
would be the end of James’ game with the score at 20-50 the boys gave it one last huge effort, unfortunately the boys were caught offside which allowed Burley’s 10 to glide through and put a pass into the winger who slid into the corner no conversion.
Final score 55-20, it was absolutely amazing to be back out playing some rugby with the boys, that’s the season done now but we look forward to coming back in July for pre-season. Special mention to Jake who received his Mods first cap and to Dan who received man of the match for a fantastic performance.
UTM
A few minutes later Mods center Rob was off with a shoulder injury, which meant we had to borrow two Burley players, again injury struck Sam Love had a head injury scare but survived the concussion test. Dan Bowker had a slight knee tweak, freeze spray applied back in the game. A few minutes later Rob made a return to the field with a huge carry. Penalty to mods, an excellent kick from fly-half twiggy saw a mods line out on halfway, unfortunately the rain started to come down hard and a knock on the wing saw Burley score under the post's easy conversion 14-5. Mods fought back hard and seconds after the re-start and another huge carry from Rob saw Mods receive a penalty in the oppositions 22, a quick tap from cheets off loaded to Sam Love and a beautiful pass to Dan Bowker saw him dive over in the corner, James’ conversion straight as a dart just fell a yard short of the cross bar. Burley piled the pressure on again, a huge defensive tackle from Scott on a huge Burley second row, saw him secure the ball back and sent the ball 40 meters down the field, Burley were able to move all the way over to the right, to fake a 4 on 2 before switching and scoring in the corner good conversion 21-10, half time came soon after a crunching double tackle by Bowker and Harry sending Burley’s 13 into touch.
3 minutes into the second half and Burley score from a miscommunication in the Mods defensive line, Burley were under the post’s 28-10. From kick off Mods pilled on the pressure straight away, great aggressive defensive play from the mods allowed Scott to turn over the ball in a tackle an excellent recovery from Dan Bowker he was in the corner for another try, James was very close to the target with the conversion from about 37 meters out however the ball just drifted past the upright 28-15. The heavy rain began to fall and 5 minutes later a quick tap from Burley and an excellent move demonstrated by the backs saw Burley slide into the corner, missing the conversion attempt 38-15.
The rain continued to fall heavy and with a slipped tackle and a huge sold dummy saw Burley under the posts yet again and an easy conversion made it 38-15, heavy rain and poor conditions made the next 10 minutes an exchange of quick tap penalties and knock-on restarts. 60 minutes in and Burley expose another defensive hole and number 12 went on a run before full back Gary put in a fantastic tackle, but lack of support meant Burley slid into the corner and missed the conversion 43-15
An extremely lucky bounce off the restart and a chip ahead left the ball falling straight into Burley hands another try under the posts made it 50-15. A rush defence from the restart left a big hole in which Mods capitalized a slight pass to Dan Bowker saw him slide into the corner for his hat-trick, another difficult conversion and miss from James falling just short of the crossbar, a strained hamstring meant that
would be the end of James’ game with the score at 20-50 the boys gave it one last huge effort, unfortunately the boys were caught offside which allowed Burley’s 10 to glide through and put a pass into the winger who slid into the corner no conversion.
Final score 55-20, it was absolutely amazing to be back out playing some rugby with the boys, that’s the season done now but we look forward to coming back in July for pre-season. Special mention to Jake who received his Mods first cap and to Dan who received man of the match for a fantastic performance.
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