Back on the Cup trail with a win.

Heath U16s travelled away and cruised into round 2 of Yorkshire Cup with a solid performance against their big Wharfedale hosts. That said, the home side flew out of the blocks in this one, using their big forwards to punch holes in the Heath defence and the visitors struggled to get any ball in the first 15 mins of the contest. But, their defence stood firm and they held out against everything that Wharfedale had to throw at them, though the hosts did manage to take the lead when Heath were caught offside and a penalty was awarded. Score 3 – 0. However, this only seemed to wake up the Heath boys and the forwards began to work well and take some quality ball for their backs. It was then Wharfedale’s turn to be on the back foot, with Heath’s Ezra Hinchliffe kicking well to push them back. Good line out ball, won by Brambles, allowed the forwards to get a rolling maul going from which Jonathan Porritt, Heath’s livewire no 8, crashed over, out wide. Unfortunately, the conversion was missed but Heath were now 5 – 3 up. Heath were taking control and swept straight back down field as Hinchliffe threw several dummies, all taken by the home side, and then looped all the way round to score in the corner. Much to the joy of coach Giles Hetherington. Again the conversion was missed and then Wharfedale finished the half by kicking a penalty to go in only trailing 10 - 6 at the break. In half time Heath made one change, with Sam Pollard replacing Sam Gardiner and they got going straight away - with forwards and backs combining well to put pressure on the Wharfedale line. This allowed Porritt to pick up from the base of an attacking scrum and crash over for his second, well-deserved, try of the match. No extras came Heath’s way and so the score moved on to 15 – 6. The hosts were now running out of time and started to throw all they had at Heath, whose defence was excellent on the day, with left winger Kofi Brobbey putting some great tackles in. Wilkinson and Brad Davis were having big games and combined well with Pollard and Jack Crabtree to keep things moving forward. This gave a good base for Porritt to complete his hatrick and this time the conversion was good, courtesy of Hinchliffe. 22 – 6 as time ran down to the final whistle. In summary the game saw a good all round performance from Heath, against a well drilled Wharfedale side, and the West Vale boys deserved to progress into the next round of the cup as 22 – 6 victors.