Joe Byrne, Sam Brereton and Jack Newton Taylor made up the back 3 with Scott Rawlings and Will Midwinter in the centres. James Milan and Andy Appleyard were at half back.
Joe Newton Taylor, Ollie Powell and Lewis Dunleavy started in the front row with Joel Booth and Oli Manifold at lock.
Elliott Anderson was No.8 and Tom Hayes and Oscar Powell were on the flanks.
Rob McDermott, Ed Cheadle and Lee Williams made up an experienced bench.

From the kick off, on a fine day, Leek lost Elliott Anderson as he collided with a knee and was seemingly concussed. This brought Ed Cheadle onto the pitch and a reshuffle allowing Tom Hayes to move to No.8.
The opening 10 minutes was littered with turnovers and Bowdon took advantage on 8 minutes with the opening try under the posts after missed tackles saw the Bowdon backs pour through the line. The conversion was good. 0-7.
Leek came back strongly and the Bowdon captain was warned about the number of offences in their 22 on 13 minutes, but Leek’s effort was held up over the line.
Then on 19 minutes, Bowdon scored again on the right after a scrum, missed tackle again and a crash ball. The conversion missed but Bowdon extended the lead to 0-12.
Leek hit back again, camping in the visitors’ 22 and on 25 minutes, the Bowdon centre was yellow carded for not releasing. Leek opted to go for the lineout in the 22 and the strong drive led to Lewis Dunleavy scoring in the corner. Will Midwinter’s conversion missed but Leek were back in the game at 5-12.
Leek was finding their way into the game now after a slow start and on 37 minutes, James Milan scored Leek’s 2nd try on the right from a scrum on the Bowdon 5 meter line and after a couple of rucks, the gap opened and he burst through. Will Midwinter converted and the scores were level at 12-12.
The half ended on a fiery note as the sets of players confronted each other over an incident unseen by the referee Mike Hurdley who blew for half time to avoid further escalation. He also warned both captains as to their players’ discipline.

On 49 minutes Bowdon was under the Leek posts and a knock on prevented a try. This was an advantage so the penalty came back to 5 metres from the Leek line but the defence held the ball up following the drive.
Then on 51 minutes, as Leek won a penalty to clear, a Bowdon yellow card was shown for back chat.
On 57 minutes with Leek unable to take advantage of the extra man, Bowdon had a shot at goal, but the attempt missed and then on 59 minutes Ed Cheadle was yellow carded as he tangled with the Bowdon wing. The penalty to Bowdon led to a lineout in Leek’s 22 and from this the drive came on and Bowdon scored their 3rd try. The conversion missed but Bowdon retook the lead at 12-17.

On 75 minutes, Leek’s urgency led to some accuracy and they won a penalty in the 22 for a high tackle and that earned another yellow for Bowdon. The tap and go led to the ball moving to the line and the referee yellow carded another Bowdon forward for handling in the ruck. The next tap and go saw Oscar Powell crash over on the right for Leek’s 3rd try, and with a successful conversion Leek led for the first time.19-17.
Surely against 13 men, Leek could hold on to the lead for the final 3 minutes, but not, as the visitors ran the ball and as Leek knocked on, a scrum on the 5 metre line with an uncontested scrum, allowed the influential No.8 to pick up and break tackles to score. The conversion missed but Bowdon’s 4th try meant they retook the lead at 19-22 with just the kick off to come as the last play. Leek couldn’t retain possession and the ball was knocked to end the game.

The result meant Bowdon were safe from the relegation play offs, even though other results went in their favour anyway.
Leek won a losing bonus point to retain 5th place with 65 points having won 11 games and lost 11 too.

A fantastic season overall despite 3 losses at the end, sees the Moorlanders at their highest ever league status. Finishing only 6 points above them and in 4th spot was Staffordshire neighbours Burton and the two teams will lock horns in the Staffordshire Senior Cup Final when they can agree a date now.

Congratulations to all the players and coaching and physio staff as well as the playing administration for providing the Leek supporters with a great season’s rugby and a successful one too.

It remains to be seen if we can lift the Staffs Cup for the first time and them improve again for next season.

In other results, Huddersfield defeated Anselmians by 36-26 to win the title and Stockport beat Burton to move to 3rd place on the final Saturday and set up a promotion play off with Anselmians.

Blackburn beat Manchester to confirm 6th place and put Manchester into the relegation play offs along with Wirral, after their draw at home to Rochdale. Perhaps Rochdale was the team of the 2nd half of the season after hauling themselves up the league with some impressive performances as a promoted side to finish 8th.

Long Eaton and Derby are relegated after both clubs were transferred from the Midlands Premier Division this season.

It remains to be decided how the leagues will be set up next season following the play offs. These could easily affect where Leek is eventually placed at Regional 1 – North West or Midlands and will depend on the mileage algorithm the RFU deploys to place all teams.

The 2s lost at Bridgnorth 2s but Longton suffered a heavy home defeat against Wolverhampton, so Leek remains 6 points clear of their rivals with 2 games to play.

This Saturday, the 2s are at home to 4th placed Willenhall. Please come down and support the team as they bid to retain Level 8 status.

Longton travel to Luctonians 3 before on the final Saturday Leek 2s travel to Newcastle 2s and Longton travel to Bridgnorth 2s.
All to play for for the Moorlanders then.

The 3rds had an epic game at St Edwards and needed to win their final league match to give them the chance to win the Nowirul Division 5 title.

After an epic game they defeated Village Spartans by 48-47.
The win completes the season for Leek and have 93 points. The two teams in 2nd and 3rd have 86 and 84 points and they have to play each other this Saturday. It’s going to be a close finish.

Well done to the 3rds this season who have stuck together and had a great campaign, winning 17 of 22 games, drawing 1 and losing only 4.

The Colts didn’t play this weekend, but still have fixtures to complete, so watch out on social media for dates of next matches.