Leeds Tykes were denied a victory against Bishop’s Stortford when they were unable to convert a final few minutes scrummaging on their opposition’s try line into points. The Tykes’ scrum had been strong all match and it made sense to go for a win rather than take the simple three points when a penalty was awarded at what proved to be the final play of the match.
Bishop’s Stortford started the stronger of the two teams. They were frustrated by Leeds’ strong defence. There was no score for nearly thirty minutes as knock-ons, line-out infringements, set piece penalties and a couple of held-up tries kept the score-board blank.
Kieran Davies looked to be running in for a certain try; the pass to him was called forward. He was shown a yellow card shortly after for a deliberate knock-on deep in his own territory.
Making use of the extra man, the first points went to the home side’s Jake Morris who scored an unconverted try out wide after 29 minutes.
The Tykes continued to looked dangerous and scored at the end of the first half. Two successive penalties to touch were rounded off with a driving-maul try for Rhys Williams. Charlie Venables converted.
Bishop’s Stortford had a man sent to the sin bin in the aftermath of the try.
Half time 5-7.
Leeds attacked from the restart and almost scored, but Davies was held-up over the line. Another yellow card was shown to the home side for pulling Matt Burke at a line-out.
It was the away side who made use of the extra man as Williams went over for his second try from a line-out drive. Venables added the extras.
Both sides were using their strengths to try to add to their scores. The Tykes used their scrum and driving maul dominance, Bishop’s Stortford used their running speed.
It was this tactic that allowed Joshua Stannard to score an unconverted try. They carried on running at the visitors although it looked as if Leeds’ defence was going to hold strong.
However, a few missed tackles crept in. Bishop’s Stortford had a try held-up, quickly followed by Will Roberts scoring a try that was converted by Connor Lloyd to edge Bishop’s Stortford ahead.
Davies and Okafor made dangerous breaks. The latter taking Leeds into their opponent’s 5 metre line. The Tykes were left broken hearted when, after a series of scrums, they were deemed to have knocked-on and the referee blew for full time.
17-14
(HT 5-7)
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