15th November – Mids 5 East (North)
Rolls-Royce 15 – 8 Leesbrook
A depleted Rolls-Royce team ground out a hard fought victory against a determined Leesbrook side who showed glimpses of the form that got them promoted to this league last season.
With 12 squad members now injured, Royces were forced to make a raft of changes which presented chances to 3 debutants. Aaron Whitehouse started on the wing and Rob Leonard at hooker, both of whom had excellent games. Tom Beech was unfortunate not to get a game off the bench but the promising youngster will get his chance in due course.
Royces didn’t hang about and set a high tempo at the start of the match, dominating possession and keeping Leesbrook pinned back in their 22. After 5 mins of continuous pressure the ball was recycled and swung blind where fly-half McLaughlin put in a deft chip to the corner where no.8 Dan Sanderson shrugged off a pathetic body check by the away team centre to leap highest for the ball and sprint clear for the opening try in the right corner. The tough conversion was missed RR 5 – 0 Lees.
Not content with that, the home team kept up the pressure and returned to the Leesbrook half, a well executed backs move from a set piece seeing centre Lawrence Betty beat 3 players and out pace the cover defence to touch down under the posts. Conversion successful and Royces were now flying. A further penalty added by McLaughlin making the score RR 15 – 0 Leesbrook at the end of the opening quarter.
Royces full back Jon Turner had made a promising start to the match returning some kicks from the Leesbrook fly-half with interest and hitting the attacking line well with a few half breaks. However he had to leave the field after 25 mins with a recurrence of a shoulder injury, which further added to the home team’s woes out wide. Replacement Simon Hicks took his place, which left the Royces back 3 with only 3 first team appearances between them. Whilst Royces were still re-shuffling their back line, Leesbrook took a quick tap penalty near the 10 metre line and quick hands in the backs allowing their pacey winger to sprint clear in the corner for a well taken try. Conversion missed. This was followed before half time with a well struck Leesbrook penalty, RR 15 – 8 Lees.
A shell-shocked home team re-grouped at half time, puzzled how they had not been able to press home their dominance from the opening quarter. A further shuffle in the backs meant that versatile no. 8 Dan Sanderson moved to full back, Hicks to centre and the equally flexible Daz Parker to the back row. The other change seeing chairman Chai replace debutant hooker Rob Leonard at hooker who had worked his socks off first half.
As expected, the 2nd half started with a determined Leesbrook team using the slight breeze to their advantage and testing rooky full back Sanderson with a barrage of deep kicks. But the impressive all rounder was more than equal to the challenge, using his long rubber legs to run himself out of trouble and putting his size 15s to good use with a couple of long range punts of his own.
10 mins in to the 2nd half the Leesbrook winger went down with a nasty looking dislocated shoulder. This delayed play for around 30 mins whilst the paramedics dealt with the injury and play re-commenced on the vets team pitch after they had blown up early much to the delight of their flagging players. Best wishes go to the injured player for a speedy recovery.
The enforced break allowed the home team to re-group and talk through some of the issues that were being presented by the plucky Leesbrook team. The last 30 mins of the match was controlled by the Rolls-Royce half backs Poole and McLaughlin who managed to boss possession well and play for field position. This frustrated the away team who, to their credit, threw everything at Royces, speeding the game up when in possession and spreading the ball wide to their dangerous looking back line whenever they could. The home team defence held strong and nullified all the half chances and credit must go the inexperienced three-quarter line who repaid the faith shown in their selection. Man of the match goes to Paul McLaughlin for his leadership and control of the game 2nd half.
Final score Rolls-Royce 15 – 8 Leesbrook
Royces move up to joint 2nd in the league with 5 out of 6 league wins. A win in the replay against Worksop on the 29th November would see them go top, an opportunity that should not be thrown away!
Team: Turner (7), Greenhalgh (7), Betty (8), Parker (7), Whitehouse (8), McLaughlin (8 MoM), Poole (8), Ranft (7), Leonard (7), Gormley (7), Taylor (8), Lee (8), Daigneault (8), Nithsdale (7), Sanderson (8). Subs: Uawithya (7) (for Leonard 40 mins), Hicks (7) (for Turner 25 mins). Beech (not used)