LEEK TURN ON THE STYLE AS SUPERB AWAY PERFORMANCE SECURES WIN
LEEK swept to a 53-7 victory at Old Saltleians in Midlands Two West North.
The visitors soon got into their stride and strong running from Lee Williams moved Leek deep into Old Salts territory.
Old Salts kicked to clear, but first Joe Byrne then Eddie Cheadle ran the ball back and after 12 phases of play Rob Mcdermott pierced the line to score the opening try.
The Moorlanders continued to dominate proceedings with both Harvey Bullman and Ben Barlow being held up over the try line.
From the latter goal-line drop out Will Midwinter fielded the ball and ran through the defence only to be tacked 10 metres short of the line.
A scrum was awarded against the home side for a knock on. Joel Hine picked up the ball and quick hands across the backline saw Tom Scragg score in the corner.
The Leek forwards continued to dominate the game and the backline fed the ball to Sam Brereton who stepped his man to score out wide.
From the kick-off, against the run of play, Old Salts sprung into life breaking through the visitors defence to score under the posts.
Leek had the advantage of both the strong wind and the slope in the second half and they were awarded a penalty as Old Salts played the ball while on the floor.
A kick to the 22 resulted in a Leek lineout which Joel Booth gathered and a maul was formed which the Moorlanders pack drove powerfully over the try line with Booth claiming a deserved try.
The visitors’ pack continued to drive on and after 49 minutes from a scrum deep in the home half Rob Mcdermott sold his opposite number a dummy pass and sprinted for the line to score his second try.
Leek’s sixth try was Sam Brereton’s second, fed across the backline with a long miss-pass sending the winger clear on 55 minutes, Will Midwinter added the conversion.
After 70 minutes on his own fivemetre line, George Hunt ripped the ball from an opponent’s grasp and tipped on to Will Midwinter, who set off and fed the on-rushing Joe Byrne, who beat the nearest OS player before passing back to Midwinter who then sprinted from his own 22 metre line to score under the posts and then added the conversion.
The visitors penultimate try resulted from a well-earned scrum penalty won by the pack.
Rob Mcdermott and Midwinter combined to loop and fed Joe Byrne who used footwork to beat the first man then pace to sprint around the outside of the second. Midwinter added the conversion.
Byrne was again involved in the final Leek try as he was fed the ball from the OS re-start he sprinted from inside his own half fixing the OS winger as he found Brereton with a pass the winger sprinted for the line stepping inside the last defender, claiming his hattrick of tries Midwinter added the conversion with the last kick of the game.
STOKE were defeated 47-31 at Midlands One West leaders Lichfield.
Lichfield kicked off into a gusty wind and applied early pressure to the Stoke line.
A catch and drive from a line-out took the home side seven metres out, following a couple of phases their second row crashed over.
The reply from Stoke was swift, a penalty was kicked to eight metres from the try line and the resulting catch and drive allowed Sam Yorke to touch down, Ciaran Shone added the conversion.
Lichfield had the edge in the early scrums but as the game wore on the Stoke pack managed to gain parity.
As the game moved into the second quarter the teams exchanged tries again. The Lichfield right winger showed good pace to score from the Stoke 10-metre line and Stoke equalised when a Carl Williams drove over from close range making it 14-14.
As the first half drew to a close Stoke took the lead with a good score. Following a scrum on the Lichfield 10-metre line the ball was moved quickly to Dylan Brownson who shrugged off a couple of tackles to score in the corner to give Stoke a 19-14 lead at half-time.
The second half started well for Stoke. The lead was extended when replacement Thomas Gibbs showed determination to drive over the line after breaking from a maul following a line-out.
At this point there were no signs of what was to come. Lichfield managed to score five unanswered tries in the space of the next 16 minutes to take an unassailable 47-26 lead. A combination of good Lichfield play, Stoke mistakes and a couple of borderline decisions.
Stoke worked hard in the last ten minutes to close the gap but were unable to breach the line until the final minute of normal time when Sam Clarke went over in the corner.
LONGTON won 9-8 at NEWCASTLE in Midlands Two West North.
Grant Hallam kicked an early penalty to put Longton into the lead, but Newcastle responded and crossed over to take a 5-3 lead.
The second half followed much the same pattern with a high error count, particularly by Longton who could just not make their superior possession and territory show.
Hallam slotted over his second penalty, but Castle did likewise to edge ahead.
However, Hallam made it a hattrick of successful kicks to earn Longton the points.
STAFFORD won 31-12 against Camp Hill in Midlands Two West North.
After an early spell of Camp hill pressure, Stafford’s Quade Boal crashed through a couple of defenders to create the space for Nick Oxley to score.
The Stafford forwards hurled themselves back into the fray and with the assistance of some of the other spare players a number of driving mauls nearly punched their way over the line.
It was left to Dan Mills speeding down the wing to finish the exhausting period of play with a try, converted by Kevin Van-der-leest.
The visitors finally got their reward through an unconverted try to close off the session.
Stafford went into half time leading by 14-5, but now having to play into the conditions against a dangerous Camp Hill XV.
The second half opened with a bullish Camp Hill earning an early penalty but the conditions saw the ball spiralling off to the side of the upright.
Not to be denied the visitors followed this up with some good rugby to take their second try of the afternoon, the conversion narrowing the game to a two-point margin.
The restart was chased down and the home side started to claw their way up the pitch through the hardest of yards.
All of the players put their bodies on the line but Dan Smith was unrelenting on the charge as he crashed through battered bodies on several occasions.
As the Camp Hill defence creaked, Quad Boal secured the ball and smashed apart any final resistance to run into sudden open space.
Jerry Qasenivalu was shadowing on the wing and took the ball, applying the after burners to score the try right under the posts, converted by Christian Stelian.
Stafford ramped up the tempo once more and an exploratory ball was grubbed along the floor for an alert Dan Mills to explode through and scoop up. Camp Hill managed to get fingertips on the attack before Kevin Van-der-leest finished the move.
As time to started to run out, a loose ball was secured by Kevin Van-der-leest and the Stafford ten appeared to run half the length of the pitch through most of the Camp Hill team for the final try of the afternoon.
SANDBACH won 48-18 on their trip to Broadstreet in Midlands Premier.
Sandbach started with purpose and opened the scoring after just two minutes, as a strong defensive press, forced a loose pass and centre Jack Leech happily accepted the gift to sprint off under the posts.
Will Cargill knocked over the simple conversion and kicked a far more difficult one against the wind four minutes later, as Sandbach worked a neat scrummage move down the blind side, to put winger Elliott Morris in the corner.
A further four minutes later and Sandbach were over once again as a driven lineout saw prop John Whittaker score. Jack Leech claimed the bonus-point try as quick hands put him away and a Cargill conversion saw the Bach up 26-0.
Broadstreet then began to enjoy a bit of territory and they eventually crashed through for second row Burnett to score.
Sandbach re-exerted themselves and skipper Jimmy Gore scored after Sandbach went through multiple phases. Cargill added the conversion and on the stroke of half time a penalty, to see the visitors comfortably up 36-7.
Sandbach weathered any early efforts and increased their lead with Gore’s second try 15 minutes in, where he was once again the beneficiary of some good phase play.
Cargill once more doing the honours with the conversion.
Broadstreet rallied with a breakout try as their pacy fullback Harry Hudson streaked away to score, Sandbach reasserted their ascendency with James Preston scoring in the corner.
Broadstreet gained their third try through winger Carter Murphy, with another long-range effort. Sandbach really should have made it a half century of points and could easily have been awarded a penalty try, but they were happy to see the game out.