This game was preceded by a minute’s silence in memory of Leek legend, David Hunt. With all of his family in attendance and many old friends including vice presidents that would have played with him and been coached by him, it was a fitting tribute to his memory.

The game that followed will be remembered for a feast of 12 tries and a heart aching loss for Leek as they valiantly defended their line in a last play epic.

Rob McDermott, Sam Brereton and Kin Critchlow made up the back 3 with James Floyd and Jack Newton Taylor in the centre. Will Midwinter and Joe Byrne were at half back. With Ed Cheadle unavailable, Ollie Powell moved to hooker with Bobby Cheadle and Lee Williams propping. Youngsters, Tom Hayes and Driss Chouhaibi were at lock with Joel Booth, Billy Kidd and skipper George Hunt making up the back row.
Joe Newton Taylor, Joel Hine and Noah Reaney were on the bench for what promised to be a close fought affair given respective positions in the league and current form.

Leek kicked off and won a penalty from the catch as a Penrith forward dived over the top. Will Midwinter gave Leek a 3-0 lead. From the next kick off though, Penrith retained the ball, kept it for 4 minutes, probing the Leek defence, before scoring their first try in the left corner. The conversion was excellent, and Penrith moved into the lead at 3-7.
On 8 minutes, Driss Chouhaibi charged into the Penrith 22, setting up the ruck which saw the Leek backs move right and left to create the space for Jack Newton Taylor to score Leek’s first try.(See photo attached) The conversion missed but Leek led 8-7.
2 minutes later and a Penrith penalty for handling in the ruck saw their left wing convert the penalty and give Penrith the lead at 8-10.
On 20 minutes, Penrith cemented their lead with a try on the left after a 5-metre scrum and close driving. The conversion was good, and Penrith increased their lead to 8-17.
Back came Leek 4 minutes later with Kin Critchlow’s first of 3 tries he was to score, after a clearance kick from Penrith only found Rob McDermott on halfway. The Leek forwards and backs continuity led to space on the left and when the ball came back to the right, the young leftwing supported and sprinted in for Leek’s 2nd try. Will Midwinter converted and it was 15-17.
4 minutes later and Critchlow scored again in the opposite corner after Jack Newton Taylor intercepted a lazy pass. He made it into the Penrith 22 before being tackled but the urgency from the Leek backrow led to quick ball and Kin Critchlow took the ball at pace to score in the left corner. The conversion attempt was not taken as the Penrith defence sprinted up to prevent the kick as they had spotted Midwinter movement. The referee concurred but Leek retook the lead at 20-17.
On 34 minutes, a Leek driving maul up to the Penrith line looked to have secured the bonus point try, but having been warned to play the ball after the 2nd stoppage, Leek were penalised unfortunately.
Still Leek pressed and in time added on at the end of the first half, skipper George Hunt did score Leek’s 4th try in the right-hand corner after a mighty drive from the lineout by the forwards. It led to a yellow for the Penrith lock for bringing the maul down too. Midwinter’s conversion was excellent, and the half time whistle blew with Leek deservedly leading 27-17.

3 minutes into the 2nd half and Kin Critchlow completed his hat trick of tries after a stunning 50-22 kick from McDermott led to a lineout win on the right and after a couple of rucks the backs movement was irresistible as Critchlow found the gap and scored a superb try. Will Midwinter’s conversion was good, and Leek now led 34-17.
Penrith needed to retain possession as they had in parts of the first half, and they slowly started to do that, winning penalties as well. On 48 minutes, opting to scrum on the 5-metre line, the forwards powered over for try but the conversion missed, and Leek led 34-22.
3 minutes later came the game’s most electrifying score when with Leek’s backs moving the ball on halfway, they created a couple of quick rucks. After the 2nd one, scrum half Joe Byrne sidestepped inside the defence, chipped the next defender, sprinted after the ball which bounced to hit him on the body, into the goal area for him to touch down just ahead of the dead ball line. Magnificent effort. Midwinter’s conversion was good, Leek led 41-22 and it would take a huge turnaround from here for Penrith to win the game.
Unfortunately for Leek, it is what happened.
Tries on 60 minutes and 74 minutes, both converted, made the gap close to 41-36 with Leek hanging on as the Cumbrians smelt an unlikely win. As the game entered added on time, a huge effort by both sets of players led to 5 minutes of play in and around Leek’s 5-metre line. Eventually, the ball was held up over the line and Leek’s players thought it would signal the game’s end. However, the referee signalled Leek must drop out from the goal line. This then led to a siege on the Leek line for 9 minutes, as wave after wave of Penrith charges were repelled with courage and discipline. Finally, near the line, the Penrith scrum half cannily jumped over the ruck to dot down to equalise the scores at 41 all. The conversion was good, the final whistle blew, and the visitors had secured a win which seemed almost impossible as the game entered the final quarter.

Congratulations to all the players for playing with such spirit and skill all afternoon. It was a great game of rugby at this level, well refereed and although Leek’s big crowd didn’t quite get the result required, 2 points secured keeps the Moorlanders in 9th place as Penrith consolidate a mid-table spot.

With 6 games to go, Leek needs to keep winning points and after Northwich’s win against Manchester and Sandbach’s win against Stockport, the gaps at the bottom have tightened.

This Saturday, Leek travels to Northwich for the re-arranged fixture and both clubs will know the importance of that result.

If you can make it over to Cheshire, it’s a 2.15pm KO.

The 2nds continued its great form with a 51-0 away win at Ludlow 2nds to consolidate 3rd place in Midlands Counties 3 West (N) and the 3rds beat Willenhall 3rds at home by 44-17.
Earlier in the day, Leek colts entertained Longton colts with the visitors winning 0-18.

Author:

J.McDermott