Leek Rugby Club in narrow Twickenham defeat at hands of Trowbridge

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Despite a brave and spirited performance, Leek came up just short in the RFU Intermediate Cup Final at Twickenham, losing 22-19 to Trowbridge.

Roared on by a vocal following, Leek scored the first try of the game through Luke Granger to give them a 5-3 advantage after 20 minutes.

Trowbridge hit back though and took a 10-5 lead in to half-time after a Karl Perry try was converted by David Davies.

A slow start to the second half burst in to life when Trowbridge full-back Jackson Szabo scored a breathtaking try, running from inside his own half to go over in the corner. The conversion was missed to leave the score 15-5.

Leek found a way back in to the match when skipper Gary McDermott crossed over and when he kicked the conversion the deficit was back to three at 15-12.

With around 15 minutes to play Leek were reduced to 14 men after Edward Harrison was sent to the sin bin and Trowbridge made the man advantage count when prop Sean Jones scored and Davies again converted to make the score 22-12.

But having been camped in the Trowbridge 22, Leek responded through James Floyd and his score was converted by McDermott to make the score 22-19 in favour of Trowbridge.

Leek threw everything at the team from Wiltshire, coming within inches of snatching a last-gasp victory.

But Trowbridge held on to be crowned champions.

Leek skipper Gary McDermott said: “It was special: everything from the changing rooms to seeing all the supporters from Leek and from Trowbridge as well.

“We didn’t get the result but, to a man, we gave it everything. Right at the end we thought we were going to sneak it but it wasn’t to be, and I think we can be proud, both of the way we played and the way we conducted ourselves.”

Scorers:

Trowbridge: Tries: Parry, Szabo, Jones. Conversions: Davis (2). Penalties: Davis.

Leek: Tries: Granger, McDermott, Floyd. Conversions: McDermott (2)

Teams:

Trowbridge:

15 Jackson Szabo

14 James MacFarlane

13 Joseph Knight

12 Daniel Smith

11 James Davies

10 David Davis

9 Kyle Knight

1 Lee Fairclough

2 Dave Martin

3 Sean Jones

4 Matthew Howard (c)

5 Scott Williams

6 Adam Sullivan

7 Barry Coombs

8 Shane Johnstone

Replacements:

16 Sam Edwards

17 Karl Parry

18 Mark Durant

19 Tom Coombs

20 Alan Chadwick

21 Ashley Chalk

22 Thomas Weaver

Leek

15 Samuel Hunt

14 James Floyd

13 Nicholas Palmer

12 Liam McDermott

11 Jack Newton-Taylor

10 Gary McDermott (c)

9 Ian Harris

1 Tom Hine

2 Luke Granger

3 Robert Cheadle

4 Edward Harrison

5 Thomas Sims

6 Luke Staton

7 Adam Nettel

8 Sokonaia Narawa

Replacements:

16 Luke Harden

17 James Wilson

18 Andrew McFadden

19 Daniel Needham

20 James Milner

21 Shane Dicker

22 Daniel Cooper

Article source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=11216635

Leek Rugby Club in narrow Twickenham defeat at hands of Trowbridge