1958-1959

5th June, 2017 By Phil Daly

1958-1959

Much to the disgust of those Yorkshire clubs who were deprived of an attractive fixture, Leeds once again volunteered to go into the Lancashire League, and then added insult to injury by winning the Yorkshire Cup for the first time since 1937. Overall, however it was another disappointing season, with a mediocre league record and 1st Round elimination from the R.L. Cup Competition.
Speculating in Southern Rhodesia during the summer, the management had signed the Deysel brothers, Ernie and Ossie, both threequarters, but neither was to show sufficient promise to warrant retaining their services.

Before the season was very old, we were bidding au revoir to three more of the Wembley team and one of the reserves: Keith McLellan, a popular and inspiring captain of great integrity, left for Australia in early December, on completion of his contract: George Broughton, scorer of those vital Semi-Final tries and 97 more beside, retired, Joe Anderson, a sterling prop, joined Featherstone Rovers; and dependable Billy Pratt, a scrum-half of no mean ability, went to Halifax.

It was the Yorkshire Cup Competition that provided the season?s highlights. Only hours before the 1st Round was due to be played at Headingley, an early-morning fire had destroyed the clock tower, and would surely have gutted the pavilion, too, had it not been for prompt action by the Fire Service. Before the afternoon was out, Huddersfleld could have done with dialling 999! Leeds were irresistible: scoring no less than 16 tries, including six by Hodgkinson, through brilliant inter-passing and smooth backing up. The 2nd Round, also at Headingley, brought us down to earth. Inspired by an interception try from Hollingdrake, converted by Phillips, Keighley stubbornly refused to contemplate the possibility of defeat, until McLellan scored a crucial try, his last in a Leeds Jersey, with admirable coolness. Even so, at the end, there were only two points in It. The Semi-Final at York displayed Rugby League football at its best. Two first-half tries by Hemingway, with Jack Lendill kicking to the corner for the first, and Dunn racing up to make the vital link for the second, gave Leeds an eight-point lead at the interval. The second half was a thriller: a Flannery try, converted by Yorke, 8-5; a long pass from Dick to. put Ernie Deysel over, 11-5; a converted try by Hargreaves, and Clarence Street was in a turmoil of feverish expectation at 11-10; a goal by Jones, and Leeds were through to face Wakefield Trinity at Odsal four weeks later.

Subsequent performances in the league were no sort of preparation for a Cup Final: we won at Wakefield; lost to Rochdale at home, and to Hunslet under the Elland Road floodlights; won at Liverpool; and then, just seven days before the Final, went down to Warrington at Headingley by 17 points to 47!

Nevertheless, it all came right on the day, with Jeff Stevenson, the new captain, proudly showing the Cup to the ecstatic Leeds supporters after a memorable game. It was Barry Simms, the 19-year-old reserve hooker, deputising for the injured Prior and playing in his first cup-tie, who opened the door to victory. Three times in the first half, he won possession from scrums near the Trinity line. Each time Leeds scored. From the first, Stevenson passed to Brown, ran round for the return pass, and shot under the posts; from the second, Quinn burst on to Brown?s pass from full-back and carried Fox over the line with him; from the third, a chain of slick passes put Jones over. Simms scored himself. too, for good measure, to make the half-time score 18-7. Two Hemingway tries early in the second half, put Leeds in an unassailable position, but we unaccountably relaxed our grip, and paid for it with pangs of anxiety before the final whistle sounded at 24-20. The Leeds team was: Quinn; Hemingway, J. Lendill, Jones, Hodgkinson; G. Brown, Stevenson; Skelton, Simms, Tomlinson, Robinson, F. Ward, A. Dick.

Celebrating in style, we beat Wigan at home, with Garside scoring a hat-trick; and two more wins over Blackpool Borough and Salford, the latter under Old Trafford flood?lights, indicated a bid for league honours. So much for pipe dreams! We lost our next six matches, and sweated our way through a nightmare of disillusion to gain a surprise victory at Widnes, only to face an impossible Christmas. Christmas? Was there a Christmas that year? We played three games in three days, travelled to Workington and White?haven, lost all three matches, and saddest blow of all, lost Stevenson through a club suspension which was to result in his eventual transfer to York. To the inexperienced Jack Pycroft, signed some months earlier, fell the awesome task of stepping into the shoes of an outstanding scrum-half of inimitable, mercurial magic.

The tide turned in the new year, Headingley becoming a hive of activity as the management strove to salvage lost pride with a successful run in the R.L. Cup. Within a matter of weeks, they had made three notable signings: Derek Hallas, from Keighley and formerly of Roundhay R.U. as a centre replacement for McLellan; Russell Robins, the Welsh International forward, from Pontypridd; and Wilf Rosenberg, a Springbok centre, who proposed to continue his medical studies at Leeds University. With Rosenberg due to arrive from South Africa after the cup deadline, his father signed on his behalf, claiming power of attorney, but the R.L. Council ruled him ineligible. Meanwhile, the team had recorded five consecutive league victories, but the 1st Round hurdle, presented by Wigan at Central Park proved insurmountable. Even so, despite the late withdrawal of Jones through injury, Leeds gave a good account of themselves, Hemmingway scoring a fine try from the slimmest of chances, and Quinn converting, to put Wigan under considerable pressure, until Bolton seized on a dropped pass to race away and bounce out of Quinn?s valiant but despairing tackle

The loss of five of the ten remaining league fixtures was purely academic; features of far greater significance included: a splendid display by Hallas against Barrow at Headingley; a spectacular try by Rosenberg against Widnes; the vastly improved form of Sewell; and SIX more tries by Hemingway, to swell his total to 40.

Three other players were introduced during the season: Jim Hainsworth prop from Batley, to whom half-back Ian Geldard went in part exchange; Alan Jubb, forward son of the former Leeds favourite; and Michael Hinch, scrum-half.

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