'We can breathe a little easier': Relief as Leeds Tykes get off the mark
After five defeats to start the season, hearts were in Leeds Tykes’ mouths at the Sycamores on Saturday as Clifton won a penalty in the dying moments, down 27-24.
But with field position not in their favour, they opted to go for touch and attempt a match-winning try but the Tykes defence hung on to record a belated first victory on their return to National One.
“Relief,” said Pete Seabourne, Leeds’ director of rugby, when asked what his over-riding emotion was.
“The lads have put a lot of work in, as have the staff, and we felt it had been coming for a while.
“It’s good to get that first one over the line, we can breathe a little bit easier now and move forward into the next two weeks before we have a break.”
The table suggests Leeds have had it tough on their return to the third-tier after a two-year absence, playing teams who have all won more than they have lost so far. Seabourne said last week that performances were improving, but results are what matters.
“I wouldn’t say it was our best performance, that was probably against Rams and we didn’t get anything out of that game,” said Seabourne, whose Tykes climbed off the foot of the table with victory.
“We controlled most of the game and the scoreline should have perhaps been a bit wider than it was, but we didn’t take all our chances. Every time we started to pull away we made an error and they came back at us.
“It got tight towards the end but then Sebi Krippner who we brought in on loan from Sale, scored a length-of-the-field try. Fair play to Clifton, they wanted to play and kept slugging away.”