Magners League Official Website : Gunners downed by Leeds

Gunners downed by Leeds

14 August 2005, 4:34 pm

By Julian Crabtree

Edinburgh Gunners lost the first of their pre-season warm-up games 7-12 against Leeds Tykes at Headingley on Saturday.

A penalty count of 17-1 against the visitors certainly did not assist their cause. Overall, however, Frank Hadden believed the trip to Yorkshire was a worthwhile exercise.

The head coach reflected: “It was absolutely torrential rain for the whole of the first half and that was a real pity.

“The score was 0-0 at half-time and while we were stopping every quarter to make changes, Leeds were sticking with what they appear to regard as their full-strength side, given that they’d already had a couple of warm-up games.

“It was a really good workout for our youngsters. We placed no emphasis on our more experienced guys getting more time, so 18-year-old Steven Turnbull got his 20 minutes and we also made sure that Nick De Luca, Rob Dewey and Ben Cairns all got their fair share of game time,” he said.

The Gunners’ try was scored by Allister Hogg, exploiting Mike Blair’s snipe up the blind side from a scrum. Duncan Hodge converted.

That score, however, had followed two tries from Leeds. The first, from Richard Parks, stemmed from a driving maul off a close-range lineout. The second was notched by Andre Snyman, after a Justin Marshall break, recycled ball from the pack and linkage by Chris Jones. Gordon Ross converted Snyman’s try.

Hadden added: “We’ve no injuries to speak of, just one or two bumps and bruises, so it was a largely worthwhile exercise.”