Leicester Lions vs Harrogate

A combination of attacking brilliance from the backs and gritty defence from the forwards gave Harrogate a deserved victory over high flying Leicester Lions.

Wave after wave of attacking rugby rocked the Lions backwards from the start. The first 10 minutes were all played in the Leicester half with Harrogate stand-off, Mike Aspinall, orchestrating the onslaught. The pressure had to tell and a clever switch of play gave Harrogate a clear overlap on the right. Crisp passing gave winger, James Rothwell, enough space to cruise through for an excellent try. Aspinall’s touchline conversion gave Harrogate an early 0-7 lead.

The much vaunted Lions attack then tried to bring Leicester back into the game. Their star full back, Gareth Collins, made an early scintillating break but Harrogate’s game plan had included tactics for coping with him and he was largely ineffective thereafter. However, the Lions clearly showed that their excellent record was not a fluke and a more even period of play followed with both sides testing each other out. Harrogate then mounted a counter attack and Leicester went offside in defence to give Aspinall another 3 penalty points. Abrasive Harrogate centre, Kyle Dench, then had to retire with a nasty cut and was replace by Dickie Davies.

The tight set pieces were being evenly contested but the Harrogate front five then shocked Leicester by pushing them off their own ball to gain a vital turnover and relieve the pressure. The Lions continued to try to mount pressure and a Harrogate offside offence conceded a penalty which was successfully kicked by Jon Boden.

Harrogate then lost a vital defensive line-out but regained possession in midfield to try and mount a counter-attack from deep. However a bad knock-on gave the Lions an attacking scrum which led to a driving maul and home hooker, Junior Fagalilo, drove over to score with Boden’s conversion making it 10-10 at half time.

Leicester had a slight wind advantage from the resumption and an early Boden penalty gave them a 3 point advantage. They put everything into increasing this lead and mounted a sustained 10 minute period of driving mauls on the Harrogate goal line. Showing enormous character, the Harrogate pack held them out. All the individual forwards defended doggedly and this led to an absolutely outstanding collective effort. The Lions were eventually penalised for not releasing and a Harrogate line kick relieved the pressure.

Harrogate then regained some ascendency and set up an attacking line-out, This led to a technically excellent driving maul and replacement flanker, Alex Rieder, duly scored followed by a good Aspinall conversion with 2 minutes of normal time remaining. Some seven minutes of stoppage time were added but Harrogate kept control of the game to hold out for an outstanding win.

Leicester Lions: Collins, Dyment, Boden, Cross, Morris, Nanci, Walker, Moore, Fagalilo, Murray, Cheney, Solomon, Hirst, Rudkin, Saxon

Harrogate: Smithies, Bottomley, Dench (Davies 20), Broadley, Bottomley, Aspinall, Bugge, Browne, Maycock (Weaving 80), Fraser (Innes 55), Brady (Rieder 60), Lodge, Wilson (Enston 70), Harland, Heaton

Referee: Mike Dickens (Notts Lincs & Derby)

match report by Bill Barrack