Great 7 Try win.

Selection:

Cook, Puttick, Burbidge, Shipman, Downsborough, Dawes, J.Cole, Ward, Rowntree, D.Cole, Granger, Morrison, Bruce, Cadogan, Thomson.
Subs: Horner, James, Webb, Whitworth, & Sutcliffe.

Scorers:

Tries: Cook (2), Granger, D.Cole, Bruce, Morrison, & Ward.
Cons: D.Cole (4).

MOM: ⭐️Sam Horner⭐️

Report:

Heath 2’s remain unbeaten in 2023, extending their winning run to six games. This was achieved with victory over local rivals Old Crossleyans, recording seven tries in the process.

Heath dominated the early exchanges, Oliver Cook and Joe Morrison carried hard, with Max Rowntree and Danny Cole moving the team round well. After a couple of strong carries in midfield D.Cole released Zak Thomson who timed his pass perfectly for Harry Granger to scamper over. The impressive Thomson caught a kick in his own half before beating several defenders with pace and power before tipping the ball up to the supporting D.Cole who finished well, the same player converted his own try.

The home pack continued to dominate the set piece and powered forward, lead by Jonny Cole, Ian Downsborough, Oli Burbidge and Brook Ward. Heath built pressure on the Crocs line and after a number of drives, Cook crashed over for a converted try. Injuries and fatigue lead to a reshuffle with Joe Shipman, Burbidge and Max Dawes leaving the field. Man of the match, Sam Horner was straight into action, hitting hard in defence and carrying well. Emlyn James rolled back the years, running hard and tackling well. Crocs had their best spell of the game but couldn’t breach the strong Heath defence.

Half time 19-0.

Heath knew they had to go back to what was going well in the first quarter, getting shape early in attack and good line speed in defence. Ben Sutcliffe replaced Granger and Gaz Webb entered the game for the injured Thomson.

The visitors started brightly and pushed for a score, recording their first points from a penalty in front of the posts. Bruce ran off D.Cole and should have provided Webb with a walk in but he held on and the chance was gone. Undeterred, Bruce made amends, now operating at fullback, he ran onto a clearance kick scooping up the ball and sprinting clear from near half way for an excellent score. After a couple of penalties in midfield, Crocs pushed for their first try, their impressive centre pushing past a couple of weak attempts to dive in at the corner.

Heath went straight back on the attack, turning over the kick off, before Sutcliffe released a rampaging Cook who scored a converted try. J.Cole saw yellow after a disagreement in midfield. Whitworth went on a long mazy run, before soft hands released Morrison to score, D.Cole converting well from the touchline. With time ticking down, D.Cole put in another excellent attacking kick which was lost by the Crocs fullback for Ward to get the reward for a great chase.

Full time 43-8.

This was a good win, more impressive with the number of changes forced on the team throughout the game. Keighley at home next Saturday will challenge the squad in different ways.
UTH 👊