7 Try Heaven For The Moorlanders

Saturday 20th April 2024

Papa Johns Mens Community Cup Regional 1 Shield Pool 2, 2nd round.

Leek 45

Sandbach 19

Leek avenged the league defeat suffered at Bramhall Road a couple of weeks ago with their 2nd win in the PJ Cup.
The victory meant Leek won the group as Doncaster Phoenix withdrew after their loss at Sandbach and Leek's superb win at Scunthorpe in the 1st round.
It also means Leek reach the national semi final stage of the competition and will host Penrith on May 4th unless both teams can agree to play this Saturday, April 27th at Altrad Park.

Leek had to make a few changes this week with Rob McDermott starting at full back with Sam Brereton and Tom Scragg on the wings. Noah Reaney and Joe Byrne were at half back and Will Midwinter and Jack Newton Taylor were in the centres.
Joe Newton Taylor, Ed Cheadle and Ollie Powell started in the front row with Luke Hardern and Tom Hayes at lock. Starting for the first time in the backrow was Kennig Hughes alongside Joel Booth and Billy Kidd.
On the 5 strong bench were Dan Griffin, Joel Hine, George Hunt, Jack Bray, Andy Appleyard and Lee Williams.

Leek was out of the blocks early and Will Midwinter scored a blistering opening try after just 2 minutes. Joe Byrne made two breaks in the move as the quick rucks caught the visitors and Midwinter shimmied past the last defender to score. He couldn't convert but Leek led 5-0.
On 10 minutes, Sandbach drew level with an unconverted try of their own after a lineout on the Leek 22 and maul drive. The flanker peeled blind and scored in the corner. 5-5.
5 minutes later and Tom Hayes scored his try in the right corner after a lineout win on the left, good passing, rucking and finally an offload from Sam Brereton in the tackle to Hayes to hand Leek the lead again and with a great conversion by Will Midwinter Leek led 12-5.
From the kick off, young Tom Hayes made a clean break over halfway and his intended inside pass was knocked back by a Sandbach back. Sam Brereton hacked on and gathered to score his first try and Will Midwinter converted to increase Leek's lead to 19-5 on 17 minutes.
A 50/22 kick from Joe Byrne set Leek up with a lineout in Sandbach's 22 on 29 minutes and the driving maul led to skipper, Ed Cheadle crashing over for Leek's 4th try of the half. Will Midwinter converted and at 26-5 with a half hour gone, Sandbach needed to stem the tide and they did so for 10 minutes before a series of penalties led to a 5-metre scrum and Joe Byrne sold a dummy to score by the posts. The conversion was again successful, and Leek was up to 33-5 as the half reached overtime. Then a Joe Byrne special as he dummied through the line, kicked ahead and was looking likely to score again when the Sandbach lock collided with him on the 22. He was yellow carded, but Leek couldn't add to their score as the half ended at 33-5.

The 2nd half opened as the first with an early Leek try. On 44 minutes, the exceptional debutant, Kennig Hughes operating on the blindside flank burst clear to score on the left. He was to prove a thorn in the side of the visitors all afternoon with his strong defence and link play and deserved his try. The conversion missed and Leek led 38-5 on 44 minutes.
On 50 minutes Joel Hine was yellow carded after a head collision and Sandbach scored a minute later after a lineout win and drive. The conversion was good at 38-12.
At 58 minutes, Joe Byrne scored his 2nd try after a penalty for offside. Will Midwinter converted and Leek led 45-12.
The last act and deservedly so went to the visitors when they scored their 3rd try on the left and with the successful conversion the final score was 45-19.

It had been a great game with both sides contributing to the match and with a team of 3 officials this Level 5 cup match contained some great skills and commitment from all of the players.

Hopefully, Scunthorpe travels to Sandbach next week to conclude the group games as Leek move on to the semi final.

Leek 2s won a tense match at Newcastle in the semi final of the Staffordshire Centenary Cup by 21-23. It sets up the final on Saturday at home against Lichfield 2s who beat Burton in the other semi final.

Leek 3s travelled to Sandbach and played a mixed 3s and 4s. They were beaten 73-36.

The Colts travelled to Derbyshire and won 0-46 at Tupton to complete a very successful day for the Moorlanders as they put out over 70 players.

Well done to everyone and on Sunday our mini section competed in the Under 7, 8, 9, 11, 12 county festivals at Willenhall, Burton, Stoke, Tamworth and Cannock respectively. Another superb effort by the youngsters their parents and guardians and coaches.

Check out the Big Leek WhatsApp group and other media for matches for next Saturday as the season continues to bring more matches for the club.

Author John McDermott