Tough morning for the 16s

Heath 5 - Malton and Norton 38 

Heath hosted a strong Malton and Norton side today at North Dean. We welcomed the return of Alfie Haley and the debutants Charlie & Zane. Phil Cadogan refereed. Malton started the stronger and flowing some uncharacteristic mistakes from Heath they pounced on a try in the first minutes of the game. Heath rallied and some good carries from Isaac and Alex pushed them into the Malton half, unfortunately Heath lost the ball in the ruck and Malton stretched their legs again moving up the pitch. Fantastic cover tackles from Nico and Zane stemmed the flow momentarily. Nathan and Lewis worked hard to put down the Malton sizeable forwards but they eventually took advantage of the overlap and secured their second try. From the kick off Heath secured possession, working up the pitch with Adam, Will and Junior controlling play. They almost broke the Malton defence only for the ball to be spilled and Malton ran the full length to score in the corner. Heath were frustrated and clearly needed to focus, which they did. Man of the match Jesse turned over the ball on multiple occasions releasing Max , Alex, Alfie and Zane. Heath again tested the Malton defence, only to be held up and Malton kicked the ball into touch. Excellent Lineout lifting and jumping from Vince, Josh, Isaac and Jacob M secured heath possession and they worked up the pitch again. Heath got a penalty in front of the posts taking the option to tap and go. Following multiple phases Malton secured the ball scored their 4th try of the half. 26-0 Half time score. 

Heath started much better in the second half, Adam, Nico and Sam all putting in some huge hits, Isaac and Nathan perked up ending any opportunities for Malton to score and the backs connected with Will and Zane opening up. Jesse turned the ball over allowing the backs to put together some slick passes creating the smallest gap for Jacob M to crash over in the corner for a fabulous try. Junior missed a very difficult conversion by millimetres. From the kick off Heath worked up the pitch again, excellent breakdown work from Jesse, Isaac and Lewis allowed Heath to break up the field again with Sam and Zane connecting. However Malton secured a penalty for holding on and kicked the ball into corner. From the line out Alex almost intercepted, which would have been a full length try, unfortunately the ball was knocked on. From the resulting scrum, Malton went over for their first try of the second half.  5-31. Heath rallied again, Charlie shaw entered the game, max came off with injury and Nico came off injured after a heroic try saving tackle during the previous play. Heath played some very good rugby for the remainder of the game, Alex again almost scored with an interception diving over the try line, but he was pulled back for a knock on. During the final minutes of the game, Heath put together some dangerous attacking play. Junior set up some excellent Gun shape off the ruck with Vince pulling the ball back to Will. Jacob M glided through the air in the lineout accurately drop the ball back to Junior. Nathan carried like a man mountain, Alfie ‘the ripper’ Haley showed his strength and Lewis showed his determination in the ruck. Heath got held up over the line twice, almost snuck a try in the corners and had a try disallowed for a knock on. It could have been a completely different result on a different day. The game finished 5-38 with Malton securing one more try before the final whistle. If Heath start better next week they will certainly come away with a win. Well done lads! Very proud of you all. 

Areas to work on next week. 

Scrum. 

Lineout 

Rucks 

Attacking/defensive shape