Heath 2’s continued their superb form with a hard-fought victory against a stubborn Keighley side.

Selection:

Heron, Puttick, Cook, Beasty, Downsborough, Shipman, J.Cole, Ward, Hetherington, Morrison, Wilkinson, Webb, Bruce, Sutcliffe, Cadogan.
Subs: Dawes, Whitworth, Dance, Terry, & James.

Scorers

Tries: Ward, Morrison, Cook, J.Cole, Sutcliffe, & Cadogan.
Cons: Cook (4).

MOM: ⭐️Giles Hetherington⭐️

Report:

Ben ‘The Physio’ Sutcliffe set the tone from the kick off, smashing the ball receiver and forcing a mistake. After a couple of well contested scrums, Heath’s pack adjusted and drove the visitors pack over the line for number 8 Brook Ward to score. Sutcliffe carried well out wide, with the excellent Jonny Cole abrasive as ever. Keighley hit back after a fumble in back field was capitalised on by an on-rushing attacker. Undeterred, Heath hit back, from another scrum close to the visitor's line, the returning Giles Hetherington fed Joe Morrison who poked it past a static defence before following it up for a clever score, Olly Cook converted. Ian Downsborough, Joe Shipman, Cole and Cook carried hard before the pressure told and the latter crashed over and converted his own try. Morrison kicked a superb 50/22 and moments later Cole powered his way over for a deserved score.

Max Dawes and James Whitworth continued the good work from the bench, with Matt ‘The Enforcer’ Beasty colliding with Keighley’s strongest runner, dislodging the ball and ending a dangerous attack. The home side finished the half well but couldn’t add to their tally.

Half time 24-5.

Heath regrouped, aiming to be more clinical and not concede any more points. Richard Dance replaced Beasty.

The home side continued to dominate in both attack and defence. Gaz Webb and Jack Bruce testing the tiring defence. Stand in winger, Matthew Wilkinson, followed up an attacking kick before upending his opposite number. Unfortunately, injuring himself in the process, Rob Terry replaced him.

Heath scored the try of the game, Sutcliffe finishing superbly on the end of flowing move involving both forwards and backs, Cook converted from the touchline. This was followed up when Phil Cadogan scored a great individual try from 20 metres out, arcing round defenders for a converted try. Moments later, Bruce made a fantastic break before feeding Webb for what looked like a certain try but somehow the final pass to Terry evaded him and rolled into touch.

The last 20 minutes was dominated by Keighley possession as Heath conceded a number of penalties. The pleasing aspect being the desire to defend the line, with players scrambling and putting their bodies on the line right up to the final whistle. Captain Shipman and Mark Puttick lead the defence, with Dawes tackling way above his size. Cole epitomised this effort when he stood strong against the charging centre, causing another turnover.

Full time 38-5.

This was a great win against a committed side who never gave up. Next week we travel to Moortown to take on their second team. UTH 👊