Well, it was a triumph (of sorts) in the end. Well done to all those who made the effort to go to Leeds, that is 13 of us who answered Chaos' desperate call to arms. 11 Vets + 2 junior Mairs. Kick off was delayed whilst Florence found Yorkshire and it was half dark when we finally did. Roundhegians were a mixture of experience, skill and Yorkshire grit which was always going to be hard to overcome and so it came to be that they opened the scoring with some slick hands to create space on the outside for a try. It was obvous they intended to use these tactics as they ran everything even from their own 22; but I have to say our determination and strong defence nullified their big runners as we desperately hung on until we worked a bit a space ourselves and Tim Peakman scorched in from 40 yards to put us in the lead 7 - 5.
Then our relatively lightweight scrum started to put them under real pressure and had them going backwards on occasion - Rufus stealing several against the head to give us some possesion. 2 more tries after the break by them and it was all starting to unravel, but we upped the pace, everyone chipped in and strong counter rucking by both back and forwards resulted in another try in the gathering gloom which I thinks was Florence's (but I'm not 100% on that; apologies if it weren't him). Now trailing by 3 we upped the pressure yet again forcing them on the back foot, spilling ball and in the final seconds we were awarded a penalty which is usually classed a 'sitter'. A draw was on the cards, but yours truly pushed a very ordinary kick wide of the upright and 'hegians got their first victory over Macc Vets. Once again, apologies to those who were there, - none to those who weren't.
In the bar afterwards they admitted that they had a team to turn us over and were expecting to win by 20. An absolutely massive performance by all who turned out for us, heads high and a great effort of which we can be proud. Roll of honour:Mike Keeling, Rufus, Robbo, Tim Peakman, Suggy, Cheeky, James & Charlie Mair, Danny, Florence, Barry, Charlie Halle and Chaos.
