A young Leek 2nds beat Longton in a convincing performance.

Stuart Simmons started at Loose head making his 2nd team debut, whilst Ad Smith and Tom Bourne completed the front row. A new partnership of James Thomson and Simon McNicol were Leek’s locks, Matthew Slinn made his first second team appearance of the season becoming the only player so far to have represented each of Leek’s 3 senior teams this season, he was joined by the returning Simon Drew and debutant Nick Thompson in the back row. Ollie Drew and Jonny Worrall were the half backs and the familiar pairing of Ben Smith and Phil Beard made up the centres. Isaac Reaney was at full back with Dan Sharratt and Tom Laverick on the wings. The bench consisted of Reece Milner, Tom Fairhurst and team manager Joe Cooper.

Longton opted to kick to Leek to start the match and within 4 minutes Leek were in the lead. Leek fielded the kick off with powerful runs from the forwards which allowed Ollie Drew to get quick ball to the backs. Eventually this resulted in a big overlap and allowed Jonny Worrall to score the first try of the match, Reaney added the extras.

The only disappointment in an otherwise flawless victory was the reaction to going ahead so early on. Within 5 minutes of Leek's try Longton replied with a try from ex-Leek player Tom Tavakece. The conversion was missed and Leek kept their lead.

The vast majority of the half was then played in the Longton half as the young Leek pack looked to increase their lead. On 20 minutes, Reece Milner replaced Nick Thompson to make his first appearance for the 2nd team. Despite the territory and possession Leek were unable to score any points. Longton were even reduced to 14 men for 10 minutes as their prop swung haymakers and Simon Drew. With the last play of the half Longton gained a 1 point advantage by slotting a penalty after a quick forray into the Leek half. 8-7 Longton.

In the 2nd half it became apparent that Longton's only weapon was their fijian contingent, especially Tom Tavakece on the wing, however even this was stifled with the introduction of Leek's own tough tackling winger, Tom Fairhurst. He replaced the injured Worral, which meant Reaney came into fly half and Tom Laverick went to full back. Early in the 2nd half Leek won a penalty 10 metres from the Longton try line. Looking perform a simple two pods move Ollie Drew supplied Simon McNicol who crashed home at the first attempt, Isaac Reaney scored the conversion to make it 8-14 in Leeks favour.

With 20 minutes to play a couple of Leek injuries meant that Joe Cooper replaced Matt Slinn and Nick Thompson returned to the fold replacing James Thomson.

On 70 minutes Dan Sharratt scored his first 2nd team try with a sublime solo effort which saw him outpace the Longton backs and execute a cute chip and chase over the Longton full back. The conversion was missed but the game was ultimately won 8-19.

With minutes remaining Leek won a penalty just inside the Longton half, instead of using time with a kick to touch Ollie Drew took a quick tap and go and sped through the waining Longton defence and fed the Leek backs, within a few phases Leek had succesfully sucked in the defence which allowed Ollie Drew to give Nick Thompson an inviting crash ball which he took over the line to score Leek's 4th try with the last play of the game 8-24.

Pack leader for the day, Simon Drew, said "It was a privilege to play rugby with the lads today. The effort right through from the warm up to the last play was exceptional, this young team has a bright future."