LEEDS CARNEGIE 10
Guinness ‘A’ League Round 5
Franklin’s Gardens
Monday, December 10th, 2007
As the game opened there looked to be only one team in town as the Wanderers set about building pressure in Leeds’s half of the field. As the first quarter wore on, however, one team dominated the score board, and it wasn’t the hosts.
17-year-old Rob Milligan had provided the first line break of the evening. He was caught, unlike Leeds centre Luther Burrell, who broke through the midfield defence with comparative ease to score the first try in the ninth minute.
Richard Vasey’s delayed pass had created the break and the fly-half also made no mistake with the conversion.
This score was compounded three minutes later when, having done the hard work by winning a great turnover, a penalty was conceded for crossing just outside the Wanderers’ 22. Vasey lined it up and converted for a 10-nil lead.
The crowd fell silent three minutes into the second quarter when it became apparent that the medical teams from both sides were seriously concerned about Leeds scrum-half Mike Aspinall. Aspinall had stayed down as the play moved downfield and when proceedings were finally halted he received treatment for a further five minutes before being carried off.
Leeds were spurred by the loss of their scrum-half and quickly won another straightforward penalty for Vasey. He let the Wanderers off by hitting the post, but the hosts weren’t helping themselves by missing touch with repeated kicks from their 22.
The Wanderers’ best move came about almost by accident. Dylan Hartley’s pass to Barry Everitt from a ruck invited a big tackle. Instead Everitt danced past the initial defender and passed to Grant Anderson. He found Will Harries, who burned through the Leeds line and over halfway. Unfortunately the play ended with a knock-on on the visitors’ 22 but it showed to the fullest the potential of the home side.
This was demonstrated again when Mark Easter’s break from deep had the Leeds defence split again. Anderson carried the move on and Everitt’s chip would have ended in a try had Johnny Howard collected it at full pace.
There could have been another try before the break, this time for Harries, when Hartley’s long throw-in set up yet another break-out move. Again it headed upfield at pace and only ended when Harries was bundled into touch to end the half with the visitors still leading 10-nil.
Whatever was said at half-time had the desired effect in the third quarter. In that time the Wanderers took the lead in some style, scoring three tries. Corey Rainbow set up the first by collecting his own chip to set up Mark Easter. Then three minutes later Ben Lewitt was at the bottom of a pile of bodies to grab the second.
The third, and perhaps the best, was created and scored by Everitt, who danced through the blue line to dot down unopposed. Everitt’s two conversions took the Wanderers into a 19-10 lead on the hour.
The bonus point try – which had looked unlikely less than a half-hour before – came in the 66th minute. This time it was the Leeds defence’s turn to fall off the tackles as Anderson powered over. Everitt again added the extras for a 26-10 lead.
But the Wanderers weren’t finished there. A powerful effort disrupted a Leeds scrum on the visitors’ 22, forcing replacement scrum-half Steve Depledge into offloading straight to Lewitt and thereby handing the flanker his second try.
In the meantime there was a return to action for Dave Ward and a popular introduction for Chris Budgen. There was also time for Soane Tonga’uiha to crash over for the sixth and final try and another Everitt conversion, which ended the match.
Teams:
Wanderers – Harries; Howard, Hoyles, Anderson, Smith; Everitt, Robinson (Rainbow 40mins); Emms (Tonga’uiha 40mins), Hartley (Ward 67mins), Murray (Budgen 64mins), Lord (capt)(Hoy 40mins), Short, Easter, Lewitt, Milligan (Giles 61mins).
Leeds Carnegie – Goodridge; Armstrong, Rock, Burrell, Hughes (Wackett 61mins); Vasey (Whittaker 70mins), Aspinall (Depledge 23mins); McGee, Parkes (York 67mins), Cusack, Boyde, Craig, Paul (Turner 51mins), Stitcher (Lewis 56mins), Balding.
Scorers:
Wanderers – Tries: Easter, Lewitt (2), Everitt, Anderson, Tonga’uiha; Cons: Everitt (4).
Leeds Carnegie – Try: Burrell; Con: Vasey; Pen: Vasey.
TIMELINE:
9mins LEEDS Try Burrell Con Vasey 0-7
13mins LEEDS Pen Vasey 0-10
HALF-TIME WANDERERS 0 LEEDS 10
45mins WAND Try Easter 5-10
48mins WAND Try Lewitt Con Everitt 12-10
60mins WAND Try Everitt Con Everitt 19-10
66mins WAND Try Anderson Con Everitt 26-10
73mins WAND Try Lewitt Con Everitt 33-10
81mins WAND Try Tonga’uiha Con Everitt 40-10
FULL-TIME WANDERERS 40 LEEDS 10
