Leeds Corinthians II XV Versus Burley II XV
29th March 2008
1 Andy Lacey 2 Tom Barnes 3 Pete Shaw
4 Darren Grey 5 Andy Taylor
6 Aaron Ralph 7 Elliot Viles 8 Jim Griffin
9 Jonny Baker
10 Tim Betts
11 James MacKinnon 12 Gavin Leeman 13 Marcus Peel 14 Karl Heywood
15 Paul Wheeler
The Bench
16 Duncan Elswy 17 Dan Morrell 18 Kenny Parsons 19 Richard Schmit
Saturday morning March 29th, the weather was nice and the sun was out for once in Leeds. Everyone gathered at Burley HQ for the short trip up to Middleton to face the Non-Brazilian Corinthians. 19 turned out for Burley as we arrived around an hour early at their clubhouse. Deciding to get warmed up the lads went outside to be met with...yes you guessed it, Rain!!! After last weeks joint game against Old Rishworthians (a loss at 29-0, man of the match Tom Barnes) the Burley boys were ready for what Corinthians had to throw at us.
Burley won the toss and opted to receive the ball, Corinthians kicked the ball up high, the wind caught a hold of it, nobody put a name on it and the ball ended up being gathered by the home team. Corinthians started a move from this which resulted in a try for the Home team. Burley down 0-5. The Corinthian kicker didn't have much luck converting as the elements were against him and he missed. Shortly after a bit of pressure from the Non-Brazilians, they burst through again to score another try. A few heads were going down in the Burley camp and the weather was steadily getting worse and the pitch was showing signs of becoming the Swamp entity (which later it did).
Andy Lacey stood in at tight head prop this week and did a very good job of standing his ground. The scrums were evenly matched each having their powerhouse props and sterling second rows. A 5 meter scrum was called midway through the first half, the Corinthians just barged their way forward even though the burley pack had locked out (We blame the mud) and their flanker went over to put them 15-0 up. Flankers Elliot Viles (man of the match) and Aaron Ralph were both making excellent tackles and also gaining yards when they had the ball giving the Middleton team a good run for their money. An injury to Premium Hooker Tom Barnes after one of their players belly flopped onto him saw Karl Haywood move to Hooker and Dan Morrell take his place in the backs. Another 2 tries were scored by the home team before half time making the score 25-0.
At half-time the Corinthians went in to "Have water". A few changes at half time saw Richard Schmitt replace Jim Griffin and Kenny Parsons replace James Mackinnon. Corinthians came back out after their "water" but Tim Betts was made to wait by the referee as he was just washing his hands in the clubhouse. He returned and Tim put it low due to the wind. The Corinthian player was met by 3 Burley players and forced to the floor, the 2nd half had begun. Corinthians starting as they had before using crash balls to get through the burley line only this time to be met by an angry defensive line. Big hits from Richard "The Iron Giant" Schmitt and Andy "Head Rattler" Lacey rattled a few heads. Gav Leeman was doing his best to spoil the Corinthian party constantly getting in faces and hitting people. Kenny "Frank" Parsons also had his moments involving himself in some rucks and tackles. Line-outs were mainly dominated the Burley boys who'd figured out the calls and turned over quite a few. Burley thought they had scored when Aaron Ralph bullied his way over only for the Ref to disagree and say he was held up. From the resulting scrum the Burley Pack pushed and found themselves gaining yards, One Corinthian Flanker saw what was happening and decided to unbind himself and latch onto Loose Head Prop Pete Shaw's leg. This did nothing as somehow the ball was turned over and Burley were back to tackling. Duncan Elsey had a good showing when he entered the fray giving burley a bit more weigh in the pack. Some more near misses from Burley as they went close to getting the elusive try they deserved but unfortunately didn't come. A momentary lapse from Burley saw the Non-Brazilians score again, 30-0 to the home team. The ref blew for full time. Everyone looking like they had been in a war (especially Andy Taylor who later learnt he'd broken his rib) grudgingly shook hands and made their way off the pitch.
A bad day at the office for everyone involved saw a more geared up Corinthians take home the win. Next week sees Halifax 3rds come to the Burley Gate.
P.Shaw