Men’s Rugby: Sunderland 14 – 40 Leeds Beckett
Sunderland hosted Leeds Beckett at Ashbrooke resulting in a 14 – 40 defeat in the second game of the season.
Sunderland got off to a flying start with Harvey Allen scoring in the corner within the first five minutes, off the back of a well worked scrum. This was followed by a successful conversion from Zach Campbell.
However, the lead was cancelled out when Leeds Beckett’s Adam Pickford had a great run up the right-hand side of the pitch, followed by a successful conversion from Jacob Hellier making the scores level.
Within minutes, Beckett snatched the ball from a one-on-one tackle with Harvey Palmer-Garrick running 60m to score directly under the posts, which was followed by another successful conversion by Hellier.
From Leeds Beckett gaining a line out in the Sunderland half, Beckett retained possession allowing Palmer-Garrick to have a strong run up the right side of the pitch which allowed him to be in a good position to score directly under the posts once again, followed by an unsuccessful conversion from Sam Rose, taking the score to 7-19.
Sunderland rallied with some strong defensive tackles pinning Leeds back. Sunderland went on to show great attacking moves with forward play, fast hands and quick phases. However, Sunderland were unable to make the breakthrough as Leeds defended hard with some crunching tackles.
Beckett went on to once again increase their lead with a try from Matthew Reed from the back of a line out, and another conversion from Hellier, leaving the half time score at 7- 26.
From the back of a scrum, Sunderland’s Jacob Walsh had a strong run before being intercepted metres from the try line. The Beckett scrum that followed saw them mishandle the ball allowing Walsh to pick it up and score, with Campbell converting.
Beckett’s Dan Wills intercepted a Sunderland pass allowing him to score directly under posts, which was converted by Hellier.
Moments from the final whistle, Beckett’s Isaac Mayungbe scored which was again converted by Hellier taking the final score to 40-14.
Sunderland sit seventh in the table after two opening defeats to the top two sides so far. They now get prepared to play Huddersfield in their first away match of the season in two weeks time.
