The two sides had not met since mini festivals 6 years ago so neither team knew what to expect of each other. Willenhall had beaten local rivals Stoke RUFC in the previous round scoring three tries in the process, while Leek beat Trentham.

Willenhall won the toss and elected to receive. From the kick off Leek’s defence was looking solid. Willenhall tested the team with some powerful runs but Leek stood firm for several phases before turning the ball over at the breakdown.

Leek pushed hard in attack with some great phases of play but dogged defence by Willenhall kept the Leopards at bay. Leek continued to knock on the door and were eventually rewarded for their efforts when Powell picked from the back of a scrum and beat several defenders to dot the ball down. The try was converted by Goode, 0-7 Leek.

Willenhall struck back immediately with a deep restart which caught Leek off guard and after a short passage of play the hosts drove over the line for a try. The conversion was missed, 5-7.

From the restart Leek dominated play. Three further tries were scored in the first half including one each for Goode and Moore and a second score for Powell as Leek put together a really polished performance with forwards and backs linking brilliantly to outplay a very good Willenhall team. Goode converted all three tries. The first half ended 5-28.

Leek knew to expect a big response from Willenhall and they got it with a really physical challenge in the second half. Leek defended well against a series of strong runs penning Leek in on their own 5 metre line but with great line speed and a dogged determination not to concede again they forced a series of errors from Willenhall, allowing Leek to clear their lines.

Leek added a fifth try to the game with another team try with backs and forwards moving the ball through the hands for it to be finished by Powell securing a hat trick of tries. Conversion was missed, 5-33.

The game ended with another very physical period of play with Willenhall trying to break through the Leek defence but again the lads stood firm and stole the ball from the breakdown before kicking the ball out to finish the game.

A fantastic team effort - to a man each player contributed to the result with a season best performance by many lads on the day.

Leek now await the results of the other quarter finals to find out who they will face in the semi-finals of the Staffordshire Cup.