Burley II vs Roundhegians III
8th December 2007
1 Kelvin Crooks 2 Tom Barnes 3 Alex Williams
4 Matt Bradley 5 Alex Gerrard
6 Julian Broster 7 Chris Dawes 8 Jim Griffin
9 Jonny Baker
10 Tim Betts
11 Jon Bowskill 12 Aaron Ralph 13 Gav Leeman 14 Karl Heyward
15 Jamie Chique
The Bench
16 Elliot Viles 17 Andy Taylor 18 Duncan Elsey 19 Matt Morgan.
An extremely cold wet day when all you really wanted to do was stay in the bar and and have a few bevies produced an action packed exillerating game at
Chellwood Drive. The events starting before a ball was kicked in anger as Duncan Elsey pulled out of the game with a groin injury during the warm and
was relegated to limping the line for the full game. The referee (well not an actual referee but a Roundhegions member who apparently does all their 3rd
and Vets home games) enquired as to any spare players from Burley who would pull on a home shirt as they lined up 2 players short. He gained a negative
response and was not too impressed.
The game got started and produced some excellent handling from both sides and it actually looked as though Burley were the side who were short.
Roundhegions continually battering the Burley gain line before spreading the ball through their backs. Burley when in possession gained yardage with
Jules Broster and Jim Griffin bringing the ball through the forwards before releasing through the halves to the centres mainly by way of chips over the
top and the big boot for a long chase in an attempt to pin 'Hegions back. It was Roundhegions who opened the scoring as the try line was pummelled before
the ball was released along their backline overstretching a Burley defence that had been sucked in somewhat. That was 5-0 to the home side with an excuse
for a kicker failing badly. Presumably the kicker was one of the missing players. Burley regathered themselves to play some more bright rugby which was
totally against the conditions before a succession penalties for various strange unexplained offences broke up the game for a while.
The referee appeared to be making up for Burley not loaning his team any players. It was Burley who came up with the next score despite playing against
the extra man when Roundhegions shipped the ball to the ground. It was recovered in the centres and slipped to Jamie Chique for him to score an excellent
long range try going through a gap before the opposition could turn and chase. Tim Betts ever reliable with the boot added a conversion not easy with the
ground conditions and Burley had taken a 7-5 lead that they were not to hold for very long. Roundhegions went back to the forwards and ground their way up
the park. A couple of moves where forward passes split the Burley centre and winger on the left hand side, Only for tremendous cover tackling to save the
day, one very notable tackle came in from Gav Leeman as he slid man ball and all into touch. Line outs were slightly favouring the home side but Burley
very much had the upper hand in the scrimmaging with Alex Williams relishing in an unfamiliar loose head position. Kel Crooks solid as ever at tight.
The next score came from the Roundhegions hooker and follow a move featuring a pass straight from an NFL play book crossing the 22mtr line as it passed
the unobservant referee into the hands of one of the front row who drove into superb defence from the Burley pack before knocking on, only for the No.4
infront of him clearly offside to retrieve the ball move 3yds back and lay it back in the ensuing ruck straight in the hookers path as he arrived to pick
up and dive over. Again a missed conversion kept the scores in check at 10-7. Roundhegions soon extended the lead before half time (35 mins), as they drove
rucking and mauling up their right hand side with an unclear score being given to someone at the bottom of a pile of bodies however it was not visible
whether the ball had been grounded and a 5yd scrum may have been the correct decision. The conversion was missed to give Roundhegions a 15-7 half time lead.
A couple of changes were made for the second half as Matt came in at tight head to give Kel a rest and the chance of a ciggy, and Andy made his bow.
The second half started with more silly penalties, more unclear decisions and a succession of 10yd add-ons for questioning the decision.
The odd one going in Burley's favour slightly bucking the grain as a tremendous rearguard action was kept up in defence by not just the
Burley forwards as the backs got more involved. Burley then appeared to realise that they were the team with the extra players as the kicks were reduced
and more ball was going to hand. A sweeping move involving just about all the team ended with the ball in Jonny Bakers hands and with still a little
work to do, doing what he does best he slipped inside the home defence for a fine score to make it 3 in 3 weeks as he continues his fine scoring run,
goaled by Tim Betts to bring Burley with in a point at 15-14. There were comments from the home side that it had taken Burley so long to work out who had
the overlap as the conversion flew over from near touch. Elliott was introduced to inject some extra pace with the game swinging in the favour of Burley
and the man in the middle trying to over even things up with the whistle. Burley soon took a deserved lead as Karl Haywood was instrumental in the middle
of the park, catching a long speculative clearance kick before setting the ball up for Jim Griffin, celebrating his Birthday, to move on to Gav Leeman
who released paceman Aaron Ralph to go 65yards untouched and under the sticks and hand the lead back to Burley.
Tim being on target for the final time and a lead of 21-14. Roundhegions continued to press but were vulnerable and Karl Haywood broke through and looked
likely to score only to be caught as his pass hit Gav Leeman on the shins and a strange Knock on decision being given. More long range pressure should have
produced a second score for Jonny as he chased a kick from Tim only to be pulled away from the ball by the chasing Roundhegions hooker as it crossed the
line, the referee in a very good position only 10 yards away allowed the home team to pick up the ball and bring it out claiming that he couldn't see any
offence. There was now 10 minutes left and Tom left the field with a cut to the head after an outstanding performance at rake in a team that contained two
others who could claim the position. Kel Crooks was the blood-bin replacement and Jules to hooker. The referee who warned that he would reverse decisions
as he got fed up of moaning and would give penalties against appealing for decisions was instrumental in getting a try for the home side to possibly win
the game as a maul collapsed. Going against his word as Roundhegions appealed for the collapse to award them a penalty. They moved the ball inside and
scored 10yds to the right of the posts to take the score to 20-21. With the tension and time the kicker was if nothing else consistent and pushed the
attempt wide. There was just about time to kick off before the referee ended the second half (47 minutes), and in doing so the game.
A tremendous game played by all the Burley boys getting the just what was deserved in the end. I would just like to add thanks for the teas, Spag Boll'
Garlic Bread and Pirri pirri sauce. Exactly what was needed after an afternoon of continuous rain.
Next week sees us entertain Garforth - team of 12 subs but no front row!!, at home and the only doubt should be Duncan with the leg injury.