Powergen Cup Final - Leeds 20 - 12 Bath

[Smeg Devil]

Anybody else watch it?

Fantastic that my leeds boys lifted the cup, despite Balshaw goin off injured very early on and the fact the stats looked very much against them from the off.
The Cup means that the Tykes get a place in the Heineken Cup IF they stay in the Zurich Premiership.
Most of the points were scored in the first half, Bath looked shocking no real attacking plays, no real threats even given that much of the time in the second half especially was spent in the Leeds half. Leeds have done poorly this season but to keep Bath boys out was done with style, the defence was superb and looked solid. However no attacks again but this has been a problem for them. A lucky interception pass try sealed their points at the end of the first half and Bath tried to come back but failed.

I loved the match, good to see that in the short ten years of Leeds Tykes history that they have come up with this commendable victory. Anyhoo just my opinion on the match, not biased at all


Match Report.......... From SS.com

Leeds Tykes lifted the Powergen Cup for the first time in their history after an heroic defensive display set up a 20-12 victory over Bath at Twickenham.

Leeds came into the match as underdogs and spent almost the entire second half holding out inside their own half, although Bath's backline was so woefully short of inspiration they never actually threatened the try-line.

The Tykes deserved to win for their superb tackling and the fact that they scored the only two tries of the match - admittedly one a 90 metre interception score in first half injury time with Bath hammering away at the Leeds line.

Leeds also lost skipper Iain Balshaw and fellow England international Phil Christophers to early injuries, but even those setbacks could not deny the Tykes on this historic day.

Their victory means that Leeds will be in the Heineken Cup for the first time next season - so long as they claw their way off the foot of the table and avoid relegation. Their last game of the season is at Bath.

Chris Malone and Gordon Ross exchanged early penalties, before Ross put Leeds ahead for the first time after 19 minutes.

Six minutes later Bath declined an easy three points to level and put the ball in the corner, but lost the subsequent lineout, then wasted their best chance of the half when they were penalised for crossing.

On 29 minutes Ross made the first clean break of the game and Leeds should have scored, only to take the wrong option from the ruck.

But two minutes later the outstanding Ross chipped over the top and Chris Bell took the ball in his stride and powered over the line by the posts.

Leeds winger Tom Biggs was penalised for a crude trip and Malone slotted the penalty, then added another one shortly afterwards for failing to roll away in the tackle, bringing the score to 13-9.

By this stage the Bath forwards were starting to dominate and they looked set to score a try as the first half expired, only for Malone to throw out a careless looping pass which Andre Snyman collected before sprinting 90 metres to score unopposed.

A Malone penalty five minutes into the second half cut the deficit to eight points and the rest of the match featured almost ceaseless Bath pressure.

But Malone missed two kickable penalties - the second hitting the upright with no Bath players backing up.

That lack of commitment did not sum up Bath's performance - but the way they ran hard at the Leeds line without ever producing the inspiration to break it - definitely did.

[Celticrugby]

Congrats! You guys don't still have Van Straaten do you?