Mission met as Tykes march on to five points
Leeds Tykes delivered a composed and increasingly authoritative performance on the road to secure a 19-34 victory at Clifton, turning early pressure into a decisive six-try return.
The hosts began with confidence and intent, enjoying territory and momentum in the opening exchanges. That early promise was rewarded when Clifton struck first, moving the ball smartly from a line-out to release winger Tom Hargan in the corner. The conversion was missed, but Leeds were immediately put on the defensive and forced into a spell of resolute work inside their own 22.
Gradually, the visitors settled. Eddie Crossland and Kieran Davies both relieved pressure with a series of big, telling clearances, while Leeds’ pack began to edge the contact area. The shift in momentum was reflected on the scoreboard as slick handling sent Davies over for the opening Tykes try, before winger Charlie Venables finished clinically following a sharp break from Sebi Krippner.
With confidence growing, Leeds began to play at tempo. Clifton struggled to retain possession during a prolonged spell of kick tennis, and the away side capitalised when lock Seth Eley reacted quickest to an opportunity close to the line. Crossland converted and added another soon after a second Davies try that came after some good luck. Clifton were attacking inside Leeds’ 22 when the the Tykes won the battle for the ball. Davies cleared, but the ball sliced off his boot and the wind held it up, stopping it from travelling far or going into touch. It bounced twice – one way then the other – and, after running around the winger, Davies was there to collect and score in the corner.
Leeds continued to control the contest after the restart through disciplined defence and intelligent game management. A period of quick takes and rapid ball release stretched the home defence and created space for prop Will Dennis to power over, before Venables added his second to cap another fluent attacking passage.
Clifton showed resilience late on and finished strongly, with replacement forward Freddie Myatt prominent before hooker Tom Anderson crossed following sustained pressure. Ollie Millner converted both late scores, but the comeback came too late to threaten the result.
Leeds remained composed to the end, closing out a well-deserved away win built on patience, accuracy and their ability to turn pressure into a valuable five points.
Speaking after the match, Director of Rugby Pete Seabourne said: “I’m really pleased with our performance. We came down here with one job in mind – to get five points. That’s exactly what we’ve done. Our mindset was that we had to win and the boys performed accordingly, against a really well-organised Clifton side that put us under pressure for the first twenty to twenty-five minutes. We didn’t get outside of our thirty-metre area early in the match, but once we did and we controlled a bit of field position, the quality in our backline showed. There were some really good performances across the backline, but the forwards dug in and put in a big shift. Clifton kept going to the end and got a couple of tries, but we managed to keep them out and not give them anything.
“Congratulations to Charlie Venables on making his 100th appearance for the club today – a fantastic achievement.
“We’ve a short turnaround this week as we’re playing Sedgley Park Tigers on Friday night, which we’re looking forward to, and we’ll go again.”
Head Coach Pete Lucock added: “I’m delighted with the performance. For me, it’s been a long time coming. We probably haven’t got the rewards from the past couple of games. Not many teams come down to Clifton and get a try-bonus-point win, and they didn’t get anything.
“I thought throughout that the forwards were brilliant, the backs were brilliant, and we pieced together a lot of what we worked on through the week. All the boys got their reward. We can take some real momentum into Friday night and we need to keep going.”
Second row Louis Guthrie explained: “It felt like we started off slow and they controlled things. A big focus this week was on messages and we started to do that, which woke us up and allowed us to control the game in the kicking battle. That opened the floodgates for us. As forwards, we played deeper and used the ball more, which allowed us to get around the edges of play.
“My attacking was better than my defending, which I prefer as carrying is my thing. As long as I get the ball in my hands, I’ll run at anything.”
In a full-circle moment, Phil Davies, who attended the match, presented Charlie with his cap for his 100th Leeds Tykes appearance – the same man who handed Charlie his club tie on debut.
Charlie said: “I finally got my first try of the season! The boys dug in and played really well. Some of the big boys up front put in a massive shift; they ground out the win for us today.
“Today has been five years in the making. I wouldn’t want to do it for any other club. When you play with your friends every week, it makes it a lot easier. The boys are a great group.”
