Match report Sunday 28th February Friendly
After the first match between the two teams early in the season the Rishworthians knew that they would be in for a hard match today. The Rishworthians squad has been strengthened since then but against a well drilled and organised team the short comings of having a small pool of players and an inexperienced team were there for all to see. West Park Leeds have also strengthened since we played them and have a squad of over 25 players and are Yorkshire Cup semi-finalists. Taking all this into account the team performed marvellously well with every player contributing to the teams efforts.

Our inexperience showed on a number of occasions in the first half which enabled West Park to utilise their backs who had pace, skill and an effective kicking game. The first half was dominated by West Park but Rishies showed plenty of promise with great runs from Rob Varela, Lawrence Chan, Tom Hammond and Richard Bullough but too many times West Park were able to steal the ball or penalties were conceded as West Park ran in 3 tries. Rishworthians were unlucky to concede a couple of further tries having manfully held up numerous attempts by West Park to force their way over the try line. But just when you believed that the threat was over West Park were able to recycle the ball and find a gap to go over.

Half time score West Park Leeds 31 - 0 Rishworthians

At this stage the game could have developed into a rout but the second half performance was so much better than the first with the players showing more determination. Playing with the slight slope Rishies had more of the ball and more importantly had the field position to cause West Park problems with strong runs from Joe Garside, Josh Gledhill and James Radcliffe. Alex Ratcliffe, Harvey Keighley-Payne and Daniel Cooper all contributed to Rishies playing some of their best rugby. West Park are a good side but Rishworthians tackled well and the support play which had been poor in the first half was so much better which enabled Rishies to retain possession and increase the pressure on West Park. After a number of drives from tap penalties Tom Hammond eventually burst over for a try, which Joe Garside converted. In the forwards the scrum and the lineout functioned well with Kyle Jamieson's hooking and throwing in not faltering under the pressure from West Park which enabled Jake Sturman and Tom Vaughan to bring the backs in to play. Although Rishies were playing alot better West Parks were still a threat and excellent tackles from Laurance Chan saved a number of tries and Jack Heap made a couple well timed tackles, however West Leeds scored again after some good play and were always able to take the right options.

Rishies never gave up with a number of players taking knocks but willing to continue after a quick rest and richly deserved their second try which was scored by Lawrence Chan after good work in the scrum by the forwards and excellent distribution by Jake. With Lawrence's pace the crowd encourage him to take the outside line, Lawrence decided differently so with great balance and a good side step he was through a gap and over the line, Joe Garside converted from a difficult angle.

West Park scored again but not before some good tackles and effort especially from wingers Ben Coup and Alex Welsh. Score was now 41-14 (14-10 to Rishies in the second half) and it took a couple of great tackles from the backs to keep it that way. First from Tom Hammond when West Park made a break, it looked a certainty they would score but somehow Tom was able to catch the player and ensure that West Park were unable to recycle it. Lawrence who admits that stamina is a problem looked to have been beaten on the outside but with a magnificent effort he was able to catch his man and tackle him into touch. This was the last play of the game and although the final score was 41-14 this did not reflect the effort the players made during the game. West Park are an excellent side and we wish them well in the semi final of the Yorkshire Cup. But it shows the massive improvement this team as made over the season.

Coach's Comments: We are still a team where most of the players are relatively new to the game and whilst we have struggled with numbers for only the second this year we were able to have a replacement and a would like to thank all the parents for their support and players that have played out off position but are willing to do so to enable the team to play.

Full time West Park Leeds 41 - 14 Rishworthians

Man of the Match : Lawrence Chan
Effort award Alex Ratcliffe

Click here to view West Park Leeds website

Team
	1. J Radcliffe	2. K Jamieson	3. D Cooper
6. Garside C2				7. Heap
	4. Bullough		5. Gledhill
		8. H Keighley-Payne
9. J Sturman
	10. T Vaughan
		12. T Hammond T
			13. Ratcliffe
11. Coup				14. Chan T
		15. Varela
Subs
	Welsh