Forwards dominate in bonus point victory

1. Whitworth  6. Dawes      11   Hinchcliffe

2. Puttick  7. Wilby   12 Bruce

3. Dance 8.  Shipman 13 Robinson

4. James  9. Cole 14 Cockroft

5. Milner    10 Malik   15 Storey

Replacements

Thornton, Greenwood, Wilkinson, Gill

Forwards dominate as 2nds move to 4th table

It was another Calderdale double header on Saturday , with Heath entertaining Rishworthians prior to the Yorkshire one clash at Copley. Heath were able to field another strong side, with the returning Shipman adding to the strength in depth in the pack. Rishies kicked off and immediately mounted an attack , trying to make use of their experienced back line, which included Jamie Bloem. Heath held strong and the pack were able to cement their dominance , with a powerful drive which then drew a penalty. Storey found touch on the 5m line, and a further penalty was awarded for collapsing the maul. Dance seized the opportunity to take a quick tap and powered over, Cole added the extras 7-0

Rishies were again in Heaths half winning a penalty for a dangerous tackle, and advancing to 10m out from the line, and then spreading the ball across the line. A great tackle by Dawes, held them off, but from the recycled ball they won a further penalty for not releasing the tackler.  Heath won the ball back and Cole executed a great kick through for Cockroft to chase. Rishies could only clear to the 5m line, but then gave the ball away for the throw not being deemed straight. Heath were dominant though at the scrum restart , Rishies front row could not hold the counter drive and a penalty was awarded as they popped up. The ball was spread quickly along the line, Storey dodging several tackles found the overlapping Hinchcliffe, but he saw the ball pop from his grasp and a scrum was awarded. Heath stole the ball again, and with James and Milner taking the ball into contact, Dance once again found himself in possession, but was just held up. From the 5m scrum Heath broke again through Shipman, with the ball secured , it was just left for James, who had positioned himself out on the wing, to crash over from 10m . Cole made no mistake with the conversion even from the very difficult angle. 14-0

Rishies pack were feeling the pressure of the intense play from Heaths larger pack and lost a player to injury. Puttick stole the next lineout and Cole cleared with a kick deep , Rishies chose to run the ball back , and Cockroft intercepted the ball but was called back for offside when clean through. Rishies tried to batter into the defence to try and get in the score sheet but Heath held strong once again, they were however forcing Heath into mistakes, particularly with offsides, and  the official warned Hinchcliffe that he may be forced into a stronger punishment if it continued.  From another attacking lineout, Dawes was quickly off the back of the line to take out the centre, and another attack was foiled. He had however injured himself in the act and left the field with Wilkinson replacing him. Next it was Rishies turn to intercept a stray pass, but great chasing back by Bruce rescued the situation winning a penalty. Half time was blown soon after.

HT 14-0

The game was still very much up for grabs with Rishies not tiring and remaining a threat out wide. Bruce was replaced by Gill, after an ankle injury. Heath had some early defending to do again at the restart, again falling foul of the official and giving away an early penalty, James was able to secure the ball from the lineout, but the game was then stopped for an injury to Shipman. He was able to remain on the field, and Wilby then managed to rip the ball from the drive, Cole cleared with a  great kick to 10 m .

 Malik and James then combined well but the ball was lost forward in contact, Heath drove again winning the ball back and clearing the danger. James left the field after a great session for Greenwood. This did nothing to weaken the pack, further drives saw Heath run the ball wide, Storey dodged back inside and executed a great reverse pass to release Robinson who evaded a last ditch tap tackle to score under the posts, Cole added the extras, 21-0

Heath were now dominating in the lose again , from another attack the ball went out along the great backline and Malik found himself with only the FB to beat and crossed by the corner flag. Cole again found the extras 28-0

Shipman made way for the returning Dawes, and Thornton came in for Hinchcliffe, to provide renewed pace and energy out on the flank. Puttick was still powering through the advancing Rishies forwards with support from Whitworth and Dance but were finding renewed resistance from the opponents in defence. Stealing the ball , they were a little too quick to pass the ball out and Storey intervened with one of his trademark interceptions, running from just inside his own half to make it over the Rishies line 35-0 .

With the clock running down , Heath knew the game was won , but several infringements with the last being deemed a high tackle preventing a certain score, Rishies were awarded a consolation penalty Try 35-7 . That proved to be the last action of a great game.

Heath now have a weekend off where several players will welcome the chance to nurse niggling injuries. This strong period in December and January has given us a chance of finishing in the top few places of the division, lets hope that we can continue to field strong sides in the upcoming away fixtures