Darryl Veenendaal, despite playing out of position at fly half, made good use of the little possession the Saints backs received and kicked the first points of the match with a well struck penalty.
Driven lineouts into the wind proved to be a good weapon for the Saints pack with scrum-half Harry Peck sniping around the fringes. The support play didn’t arrive in time to allow any continuity from any line breaks and resulted in turn over ball. With neither side able to hold onto the ball long enough to penetrate the defences no further scores were added before half time.
The focus for the Saints pack during the break was the set piece, particularly the scrum where Leeds had the upper hand. Substitutions early in the second half had good impact on the game with Sam Hodgson and Liam Neale slowing down the opposition ball and frustrating their backs.
Good defensive pressure led to a charge down and Veenendaal dribbled the ball perfectly from 40 metres out to score the first try of the match. Veenendaal also kicked the conversion from wide out to take a 10-0 lead with 30 minutes to go.
It was end to end play for the rest of the match and it was Leeds who got a well deserved try just before the final whistle to make the final score 10-7 to Saints.
The next Northampton U19s match is against Gloucester at Hartpury College on Sat Feb 2nd.
