One try from the opposition and one penalty goal was the only difference between the two teams in a thrilling Yorkshire Cup first round match at Millpond.
In a hard fought match, Lions were unlucky not to have points in the first half after a good break from forwards Ryan Jones and Callum Coleman with stand off Jack Harris chipping through. Stanningley’s defence failed to deal with it leaving a difficult ball for centre Will Plimmer which was judged a knock on over the line.
With coaches merit winner Tom Beal making easy yards running from dummy half Lions often found themselves in Stanningley territory with Todd Morgan and centre Ashley El Zebedi testing their defence.
A solid performance from scrum half Jack Waites brought the best out of his forwards with Jordan Adams and Sam Megson taking the ball on the full, knocking holes in Stanningley, but it was Man of the Match Lawson Roberts who made sure they couldn’t rest with good loose forward play.
Another good game from Thomas Hatfield at full back again gave Lions options in attack with some strong runs down the flanks bringing wing Matty Wallace into the game.
With the game deadlocked at 0 – 0 defence was the key and Lions put in some tremendous hits, knocking the stuffing out of Stanningley, led from the front by hooker Ellis Hobson who received the top tackler award.
Lions can consider themselves unlucky not to go into the second round, but can now concentrate on the league.
