London Broncos 28 - 42 Leeds Rhinos

Various things have conspired against me seeing Leeds Rhinos playing in recent years, mostly the London's only team, the Broncos, moving away from Twickenham (a comfortable walking distance) to Enfield (I have no idea how to get there) and then being relegated so that they had no regular fixture against Rhinos.

Then Rhinos helped by having a terrible start to the season so that they played in the end of season Qualifiers rather than the Super 8s and the Broncos helped by moving to Ealing which I can get to on one bus.

Well, normally it would be one bus but a road closure meant that three buses or, as it turned out, one long walk to Richmond and then the rerouted 65. I had planned to walk from Ealing Station to the ground but I had done enough walking by then so I took the 297 bus. It was good to see a few other people in various Leeds Rhinos shirts get on the bus with me. None of us had been to the ground before so we all used our phones to work out the route and mine threw me off the bus the stop before everybody else, it was not a long walk from there to the ground but I suspect that everybody else took the better option.

First impressions of Ealing Trailfinders was good. Two sides of the ground were little more than basic but, at one end, had a reasonable amount of covered seating and along one side was the main building with grandstand, bar, shop and dressing rooms. Judging by the noise coming from there that is where all the Broncos fans were; they had to be somewhere as the rest of the ground was packed with Rhinos fans.

The game itself was patchy with Leeds Rhinos dominating the possession and territory for large sections of the game, enabling them to run in an impressive eight tries, but they also lost concentration a few times to allow Broncos to run in five tries themselves, including the first one and the last two. Several of the Rhino's tries came from wide play with winger Tom Briscoe getting three, and with the gusting wind several conversions were missed which also made the score closer than it could have been. The final score flattered Broncos somewhat and I had hoped for something like the 12-58 win I had seen a couple of years ago.

Still, a win is a win and I was happy with that and with the chance to see Leeds Rhinos in the flesh again.

And I was so buoyed by the win that I walked all the way back to Ealing before taking the 65 back to Teddington where I found a pub to celebrate in.

Having A Merry Leeds Rhinos Christmas

I dropped some massive hints on what I wanted for Christmas, the sort of hints that come in emails with URLs to shopping websites, and I am delighted that they worked.

After some years of neglect I am starting to rebuild my wardrobe by throwing out all the worn-out clothes and replacing them with new ones. The throwing out part is working well and I just need to pay a little more attention to the replacing part.

I like cotton rugby shirts because they more flexible than jumpers (you do not need to wear a shirt underneath) and they are prettier too. It also gives me the opportunity to show my loyalty to Wales (international Ruby Union), Leeds/Yorkshire Carnegie (domestic Rugby Union) and Leeds Rhinos (Rugby League).

I already had two Leeds Rhinos shirts and at Christmas I got two more.

Rugby League is now a Summer game and the new Super League season does not start until February (that's early Summer!) but the new 2015 strip was in the shops for Christmas. These are, left-to-right, the new away and home shirts.

The home short is a slight variant on the usual blue and yellow but my other two away shirts are white and pink so the new one adds some fresh colours to my wardrobe. I am wearing the away shirt now.

A new shirt for a new season

The new Rugby League season is upon us and Leeds Rhinos have a very different away strip this year. I last bought one two years ago and that was very bright with its pink and blue hoops. Last year's away shirt was much the same, possibly even pinker.

This year they have gone for white, which I love, not least because that is the home colour of Leeds United (Leeds Rhinos wear blue and yellow at home). It is also a colour that is easier to match with other things.

It is a short-sleeved shirt, as was the last one, so I think that I'll keep wearing the other rugby shirts that I have, Leeds Carnegie and Wales, for a while.

It should be warm enough to wear it on Saturday 16 August when the Rhinos are due to play the London Broncos at their new ground, The Hive in Edgware.

London Broncos 18 - 30 Leeds Rhinos

Leeds Rhinos only play one a game a season near me in London so I made the effort again this year to get there even though the match was moved to a Thursday evening and I was working away that week.

For some reason they closed the North Stand (on the right here) where I sat last year. I sat in the East Stand because that was were most of the Rhinos fans seemed to be though, to be honest, there seemed to be far more Rhinos fans than Broncos fans everywhere.

The weather was kind. It has been blistering hot but by 8pm it was down to warm and, more importantly, it kept dry.

The result went Rhinos' way but it was more of a struggle than it should have been against the team at the bottom of the league. Rhinos lacked penetration and only broke through the Broncos line a few times. Too often handing errors conceded possession and at times they looked lethargic, as if they knew that they were going to win anyway and so did not need to try too hard.

While the game was not a great spectacle being there was a great experience.

Firstly it was Sir Kev's 500th game so that made the evening special. He was on form, as always, and kicked 5 from 5.

Secondly just being among so many Rhinos fans was wonderful, even if most of them put me to shame for wearing last season's away shirt by wearing this year's shirts.

I am going to have to buy myself a new shirt.

Rugby League attracts a family crown these days and it was good to see so many children and women there, they easily out numbered us middle-aged men.

Friendly crowds have friendly rituals and I joined in with the chanting of "Yorkshire" (pronounced York-shur), the clapping of good play and the standing cheers for every Rhinos' try.

The camaraderie continued after the game too as I joined the crowd heading for Twickenham Station. Many of them were travelling a long way from there whereas I was able to catch a 281 bus back to Teddngton from where it was a short walk home, via The Anglers. A fitting end to a good day.

Watching the Rhinos

I watch Leeds Rhinos playing Rugby League on TV whenever I can and I make special trips to the pub to do so but I had never seen them play live until now.

There is one London fixture each year, away to London Broncos/Harlequins who play at the Stoop in Twickenham, which is all but next door to the international stadium.

Thanks to the river and railways it is a convoluted route there for me by public transport (the best option is to go into Richmond and then out again) so I walked. It is only three miles or so and that takes me much less than an hour.

The Stoop is quite an impressive stadium with covered seating on all sides.

Leeds were assigned to the North Stand (I bought my ticket from the Leeds Rhinos shop) and this is the view from the seat that I chose.

The home fans choose to sit at the side so we faced an empty South Stand.

Rugby League claims to be a family game and this was born out by the mix of fans around me, especially the number of women proudly wearing Leeds colours.

The game itself was a strange affair.

In a game of four quarters Leeds were only top in two of them yet ran out clear winners.

There was no score until the 22nd minute when Broncos went over to take the lead. And they deserved it having had all the possession and all the territory.

The few times that Leeds approached their fans in attack the passing was slow and predictable and they never really threatened to score.

The Broncos' try seemed to wake Leeds up and they score their first try just a few minutes later with a quick series of moves staring in their own half. It was the speed and the urgency that got the try and it got Leeds three more before half-time and they went in 24-6 up.

Perhaps Leeds came out in the second half thinking that the job was done but they had lost their urgency and the second half became a repeat of the first. Broncos scored a try soon after the restart (picking a loose ball up and literally walking over the line with it) and followed that with twenty minutes of pressure in front of the Leeds fans who clapped every defensive tackle enthusiastically.

Then in to the final quarter Leeds shook of their lethargy and ran in six tries to win by an unexpected 58-12 (Sir Kevin actually missed one of the conversions).

I shall be looking at next year's fixtures as soon as they are announced and making sure that the next London date for Leeds goes in to my diary. Until then it is back to watching them in the pub.

New shirts from Leeds and Wales

A recent splurge in spending has provided me with a few more shirts to wear and the chance to demonstrate some of my sporting loyalties.

I like traditional cotton rugby shirts  but the Liberty ones I bought twenty years ago are dead or dying.

The first new addition is a Leeds Carnegie (Rugby Union) home shirt.

I normally buy away shirts on the grounds that I no longer live in Leeds but that is only available with short sleeves so I went for the home shirt instead.

The away shirt, which is mostly white like the magnificent Leeds United, is still on my wish list and may appear here once Spring comes.

This shirt should get its first official outing at London Welsh v Leeds Carnegie in Richmond on 25 February.

I already own a Welsh rugby shirt but a recent display of patriotism at Welsh Water in Cardiff, where everybody (and I mean everybody) wore a rugby shirt to work ahead of a World Cup game, showed just how old mine is.

It is so old that it does not even have a sponsor's name on it. I like it a lot though and am wearing it now as this is a Six Nations weekend.

The new shirt is much flashier that the old simply-red one with its tailored cut and white features.

It is also made of modern materials (i.e. some sort of plastic) so it is not as warm as the others which should make it a Spring/Autumn shirt but Wales are playing Ireland tomorrow so I'll give it a go. Who cares about a cold snap?

Oddly, I will also be wearing this shirt on 25 February as England are playing Wales at Twickenham after the Leeds Carnegie game.

The first game I'll see at the ground and the second in a pub in Richmond. In both cases I'll be wearing the away shirt so it could be fun!

The final shirt is the best.

I am a fan of Leeds Rhinos (Rugby League) and have wanted a shirt for some time but the blue and yellow colours of the home shirt do not suite me.

So I've bought the new away shirt instead.

This comes in three variants, authentic (i.e what the players wear), replica (like the authentic but not as tight fitting) and cotton.

I've gone for the cotton one for the comfort and warmth.

It will get worn before then but it's official debut should be at London Harlequins v Leeds Rhinos on 30 June.

All three shirts are very welcome additions to my wardrobe and make something of a change from the usual rock band black t-shirts.

Leeds still rules the world (of Rugby League)

Excellent news!!

Leeds Rhinos ensured the World Club Challenge trophy stayed in England for a fifth successive year with a tense victory over Melbourne Storm.

This good result has set Leeds up well for what, even at this early stage, looks like being a good season with Leeds being the only unbeaten team in the Super League after 4 games and already having a 4 point gap to the second place team.

Come on Leeds (United, Rhinos and Tykes)!

It's crunch time for Leeds United in their efforts to remain in the football Championship and, like all good supporters, I am still confident that we can do it; and get promoted back to the Premiership where we belong next season.

But while there is still some concern over Leeds United the other Leeds teams are both top of their leagues.

Leeds Rhinos beat the previous league leaders, Bradford, last night to go top of the Super League.

Leeds Tykes are top of the English National League 1 and should be promoted back to the Premiership, though we do still have to play Earth Titans.