MAXIMUM POINTS IN OPENING DAY WIN OVER KENDAL

Selection
15 Callum Harriott-Brown 14 Elliott Spiers 13 Joe Morrison 12 Ben Hall 11 Jake Haynes 10 Chris Johnson 9 Sam Cox 1 Chris Moore 2 Alex Mc Fadden 3 Josh Crickmay 4 Alex Patrick 5 Pete Hampshire 6 Ben Stringer 7 Harvey Keighley-Payne 8 Tom Clough 16 Jack Bruce 17 Seif Boussada 18 Jack Pilcher

Scorers
Chris Johnson 1 try   Tom Clough 2 tries    Jake Haynes 1 try    Joe Morrison 1 try
Chris Johnson 2 pens 2 cons

Report
Heath made a first ever trip to the edge of the Lake District to take on Kendal in their opening game of the season. Kendal had been transferred over from Regional 1 North West and were an unknown quantity after finishing in mid-table last season so Heath needed to be at the top of their game if they were to get anything from it.

Heath welcomed new signings Sam Cox and Ben Hall and welcomed back Elliot Spiers and Joe Morrison to the back line up while the “old guard” forwards remained the same as last season. Conditions were ideal and a large crowd, swelled by many of the Heath faithful, greeted the players and with my newly laundered lucky socks on, hopes were high for a Heath win.

Heath kicked off deep but in the opening exchanges gave away two penalties to set up the home side with an opportunity for a score but a smart cover tackle from Callum Harriott-Brown saved a certain try. Heath reacted quickly and the reliable boot of Chris Johnson converted a penalty, 3-0 with five minutes played. A mistake from the re-start saw Kendal mount an attack but the visitors were putting in some big hits to prevent any score and from a first attacking scrum Tom Clough broke for the tryline before being held up short.  However, Chris Johnson was on hand to scoop up the ball to score the opening converted try 10-0 with twelve minutes played.

With Kendal a little shell-shocked Heath began to play some super rugby and when Joe Morrison was held short of the try-line Tom Clough was on hand to charge over for a try, 15-0 with fifteen minutes played.

Kendal needed to get on the scoreboard and after twenty minutes they converted a penalty,15-3. From the re-start Elliott Spiers went on a mazy run, making inroads into the home 22, before an intercepted pass saw the home side on the attack which resulted in an unconverted try, 15-8 and it was game on.

Kendal were gaining in confidence and a super kick to touch set up their next attack but the Heath defence stole the ball and went on the attack themselves with Tom Clough, Jake Haynes and Sam Cox linking well to set up a scoring opportunity for the visitors. Kendal responded and when Cox was yellow carded on thirty minutes they took advantage, scoring a converted try from the quickly taken penalty to level the scores 15-15.

Enter the “Tunisian Tank” Seif Boussaada and Jack Pilcher to try and stem the tide; which they did and, with half time approaching and the game was evenly matched, Harvey Keighley-Payne made a super break before off-loading to the supporting Tom Clough and when the ball came out to Joe Morrison he linked up with Jake Haynes and the return pass saw Jake touchdown in the corner 20-15.

Half time arrived. It had been an absorbing forty minutes with hopefully more of the same in the second half.  

With no further changes the second half began with Heath challenging to add to their score and when Ben Stringer won line out ball it was quickly fired across the backs and Joe Morrison rounded off a superb piece of play to score a try, 25-15 on forty-seven minutes. Kendal responded with a penalty conversion shortly after, 25-18 and continued to try and break down the visitors defence but with no luck.  In Heath's next attack Chris Johnson came away with a converted penalty 28-18.

From the re-start Tom Clough set off on a driving sixty metre run which ended with Kendal having a man carded and, as the hosts struggled to contain Heath, Clough collected the ball on the half way line and set of on another charge - with a jinking kick and chase before collecting the favourable bounce to score under the posts, 35-18, with a quarter of the game left to play.

Jack Bruce replaced Joe Morrison and shortly after Pete Hampshire returned replacing Alex Patrick. Heath continued to work hard in defence, putting in some big hits with Bruce in particular preventing two certain tries with textbook technique. With the full time whistle approaching Kendal could not break down the visitors defence and Heath had the perfect five-point win start to the season.

The game was end to end throughout but it was the visitors who took their chances to come away with the victory. Still plenty to work on but the journey home for players, coaching staff and supporters was a happy one as attentions turn to next week when Heath travel to Sandal. As always see you there.

League Results:  Here.

League Table:  Here.

Photography:  Bev Clough was there to capture some excellent action shots.  All photos with this Report are hers, unless otherwise noted.

You are about to navigate away from the Heath RUFC website. Heath RUFC is not responsible for the content of this external site and does not monitor other web sites for accuracy.