Wednesbury 7-13 Leek
LEEK kept their unbeaten league run intact with a performance much the same as last week's game at Telford that kept them three points clear of Veseyans with four games to play.
Sam Hunt
Still without Gary McDermott, but with Sam Hunt returning, the backs were shuffled again to include Dave Kennaway at fly half, Andy Green at inside centre and Ian Harris at outside centre.
James Wilson and Lucas Buxton were on the wings as Sam Hunt took his full back spot.
With the exception of Luke Granger, the forwards were unchanged and Luke Staton came in on the blind side.
Leek won the toss and chose to play up the slope against the usual very big Wednesbury pack.
Despite Wednesbury’s nine-game run without a win, this match was never taken lightly by Leek as they knew the weight of the Wednesbury forwards would be a challenge, particularly in the scrum.
Nevertheless, with a minute on the clock, Leek won a penalty for offside, and from 45 metres, Sam Hunt kicked superbly to hand Leek an early 3-0 lead.
On three minutes, Leek lost their opening scrum against the head as they were pushed off it and Wednesbury drove deep into the Leek 22 on the blindside before the wing was bundled into touch.
Having weathered that little storm, Leek were comfortable in midfield and on 16 minutes had won another penalty as Wednesbury slowed the ball up.
Hunt again kicked a nice penalty to double Leek’s lead to 6-0.
Three minutes later a clearance kick upfield found the Wednesbury fullback.
His kick back down field saw Lucas Buxton caught in possession from which the Wednesbury fullback profited as he snaffled the ball.
With a three-man overlap and the line begging, the centre knocked on and Leek were let off.
Leek then continued to dominate possession and move up field and on 30 minutes, Sam Hunt showed his fitness with a fine break from half way which saw Leek unluckily knock on deep in the Wednesbury 22.
Then, three minutes later, Charlie Futcher took a ball against the head in Wednesbury’s 22, but the ball was knocked on and Wednesbury cleared.
Then, deep into stoppage time of the first half, the play of the game was made as Leek’s Andy McFadden, in the middle of a man of the match performance, pinched a lineout on Leek’s 22.
The ball passed along the backs as Sam Hunt came into the line from deep.
His long pass found Buxton, who burst out of the Leek 22 before he was stopped.
Ian Harris, following up, took a short pass from Lucas and his intelligent run saw him side-step the fullback, track across field and beat two men before offloading to No. 8 Rhodri Hughes, who skipped inside two men to score a fine try.
Hunt converted and as the halftime whistle went, Leek were 13-0 up.
Any thoughts the league leaders had of an easy downhill second half was proven wrong at the final whistle as they failed to score another point in the game, and had to wrestle against a very competitive home side.
On 53 minutes, Sam Hunt missed a long range penalty and thereafter Wednesbury kept the ball and Leek had to defend the midfield, with little sign of Wednesbury ever breaking through a resolute defence.
The confidence in Wednesbury was growing though and when they made a replacement in the centre, his pace suddenly saw a few missed tackles from Leek as Wednesbury looked for the score.
On 75 minutes, Hughes, who had suffered a back injury was replaced by Neal Edge, and Dan Needham gave way for Simon Drew.
That meant Ian Harris moved to scrum half and Dave Kennaway moved to centre.
Still Wednesbury were pressing, and on 80 minutes won a penalty in front of Leek’s posts.
They chose to run it quickly and eventually the right wing scored a deserved try in the corner.
With a good conversion, Leek’s lead was narrowed to 13-7.
Jamie Gordon came on for Dave Ackerley and Leek played out much of the remaining six minutes of stoppage time in the Wednesbury half to secure a far from comfortable win.
With Veseyans beating Telford 43- 23 and Tamworth leaving Bishops Castle with a 20-6 win, both challengers kept up the pressure on Leek at the top of the table.
Newcastle had a surprising and decisive win at Burntwood, beating the home side 27-15.
Both Veseyans and Tamworth have to visit Newcastle on the run in and Newcastle have to come to F Ball Park for Leek’s last home game of the season on April 10.
Newcastle moved into fifth place, just one point behind Burntwood.
Leek’s next game is against Tamworth at F Ball Park on March 20.
Aside from Leek’s important game against Tamworth, kick-off 3pm, there is also the culmination of the Six Nations championship that day, with three games on show at the clubhouse.
England plays in Paris at 8.45pm, so there is a feast of rugby all day on this day, sponsored by The Breezehouse.