Sat 27 Nov 2021, 14:00
The match was played in the teeth of Storm Arwen. Cambridge did not suffer as badly as some, but the gusting wind blowing down and slightly across the pitch made for difficult playing conditions.
Cambridge started with the wind at their backs and ran riot for the first 20 minutes. In the first five we won a scrum penalty and Leeds were forced to pull down a maul, earning a yellow card. The attack was finished off by Anthony Maka powering over. Lawrence was kicking into the wind, but instead of the ball holding up it drifted wide.
We received the restart, kicked long and Leeds were forced to clear to touch. The line out went slightly wrong due to the gale, but the ball bobbled loose on the Leeds side. Ben Brownlie pounced on it and offloaded to Jake Garside, who scored our second. Again, Lawrence could not judge the kick.
The third try came from more pressure, which forced Leeds to kick the ball high. Joe Green fielded the kick and set up an attack, Jake Garside moved it on and Mat Hema was on hand to score. For a third time, Lawrence could not judge the wind.
After that, things started to go wrong. Cambridge started to give away penalties, which gave Leeds field position. Kwaku picked up a nasty blow to the knee and had to limp off - to be replaced by James Martin. Leeds had a very promising attack that was blunted by a knock on, but the referee brought them back for a Cambridge offside. Cambridge thought they had held them out, but Ben Adams was penalized for not being 10 metres back, and shown a yellow card. And Leeds forced their way over for a try under the posts, with the clock showing 45 minutes.
Things went from bad to worse in the second half. Not only were we now playing into the gale, but Billy Walker saw yellow, and we were briefly down to thirteen. Leeds exploited the space to score another try under the posts and were able to convert. While we were still down a man, Leeds won another penalty, and opted to kick and were successful, setting up a narrow 15-17 lead for the visitors.
The last 20 minutes were manly forgettable, with both sides making errors, while both sides had chances, neither side could score and Leeds came away with a victory.
The match was dominated by the wind, which turned the line out into a lottery, blunting one of our most effective weapons. However, Leeds certainly made better use of the conditions than we were able to. They also managed relations with the referee better than we did. It was not our finest hour, but there is another match next week - and that gives the boys another opportunity to get things right.
Final Score
Cambridge 15 - 17 Leeds Tykes
Scorers
Tries: Maka, Garside, Hema.
