Hornsea yet again travelled on another 130 mile plus journey to West Yorkshire with just about 15 men – largely the 15 or so that have travelled all season.

Put simply, once again the nomads kept at it from minute one to the finish and demonstrated bottle, blood and guts throughout but the home side simply had too much for the East Yorkshire pack to cope with.

The same fixture at home resulted in a 54 nil defeat for the Hollismen and on that occasion a full strength side with replacements was on display, it therefore should be no surprise that travelling with 15 plus one produces the result as was on the day, with the home side scoring 9 unanswered tries.

Hornsea conceded very early on after needlessly kicking the ball straight to the opposition. For a period the visitors went forward, taking the home side on in most areas, the scrum being the obvious weakness, with Leeds being at least a stone or two heavier per man.

The already creaking performance was not helped when prop Gaz Laycock suffered a neck injury and was replaced by veteran prop Nick O’Mahony. Whereas this without doubt improved the scrummaging, even taking one against the head, 46 year old legs and lungs were not adequate replacement when asked to cover ground and hit very quick breakdowns.

It would be harsh to criticise anyone that travelled because all 16 worked their socks off. However, there were some that stood out, with Paul Morley and Jack Foster very busy and committed in the backs and Jim Richardson, Phil Walker and in particular Liam Cardwell working very hard up front.

On the day, a very well drilled and organised Leeds side deserved their very comprehensive win.

Speaking after the game a tired Hornsea Chairman Nick O’Mahony said “Very proud of the guys today, the score certainly does not reflect the effort and bottle of all who played but thus it was the score. We now need to prepare for the Knaresborough and select a side that wins & presents good ball and lets our talented backs loose. A win by a very considerable margin is the only possible chance we have to avoid relegation - and that with sides elsewhere doing us a favour or two.

The next league game sees bottom side Knaresborough on Hornsea RUFC’s VP’s and Ladies day on April the 11th.