Heath battle hard for third consecutive victory.

Heath U17s 33 vs West Park Leeds U17s 19. Heath under 17s continued their rich vein of form with a hard fought friendly victory over a determined West Park Leeds side. Resuming after a week’s break due to having numerous players involved with West Yorkshire representative duties, Heath began the game on the back foot; the home side having to withstand several threatening attacks from the visitors. However, despite struggling at set piece ball, the first points of the game were from Heath, swift counter attacking from the back row setting up a strong field position. This then allowed scrum half Luke Denton to release fly half Ezra Hinchliffe, who skipped through several tackles to power over the line, adding yet another try to his season’s tally. With Hinchliffe converting and Heath 7 points up, it was not long before the home team managed to find their rhythm; West Park Leeds struggling to contain the pace of the Heath back row, this time number 8 Jonny Porritt proved too strong in the tackle, powerfully fending off the West Park fullback to crash over for an excellent solo effort. With the conversion successful and Heath 14-0 up, the away side responded powerfully and with determination; the game turned into a fiery encounter and on several occasions came close to boiling over. Nevertheless, Heath held strong, and despite a nasty looking back injury to second row Richard Brambles, the home team were able to adapt to the scrappy nature of the game, particularly fullback Jack Crabtree who held extremely strong in both attack and defence, ensuring Heath had a solid base at the back. Heath’s strength in depth became evident with changes being made throughout the entire 70 minutes, remaining on the front foot for the early stages of the second half. The pressure of the Heath attack once again proved too much for the visiting North Two side, resulting in Kofi Brobbey muscling over following good use of a wide overlap. Despite being 19-0 down, West Park Leeds pushed to fight their way back into the game, and two tries in quick succession reduced the Heath lead to only 5 points. The game adopted an end to end sway, which suited the pacey backline and dynamic forwards of Heath; West Park were caught on the break and this allowed Jack Sheldrake to hack the ball forward and use his speed to pounce over the line. A successful conversion from Lewis Mckenzie left the score at 26-14 to the home side, and despite West Park hitting back with another score, a breakaway try from Heath captain Stephen Hare sealed the game for Heath, 33-19 victors. Heath will be hoping to continue their strong form on return to the league schedule, with Sunday’s tough fixture at Harrogate lying ahead.