Heath 3rds. After travelling to Wharfdale last week with twelve men, Tuesday selection brought a strange new problem for the thirds – 8 reserves! We were down to four reserves come kick off time, but still, happy days!
Brods first team has had mixed fortunes in the leagues over recent seasons, but they continue to be a strongly supported club and regularly field a number of lower teams.
This season has seen the return of several former Brods favourites to play in their lower teams, and it was a pleasure to welcome a team which included ex-Yorkshire player Phil Horton and a clutch of experienced players alongside some up and comers.
We were under no illusions that this would be a tough fixture, but were mentally ready for the challenge, and confident that we also had the personnel to match. The game kicked off in near perfect conditions. The loss of regular hooker Paul Shaw, and first choice jumper Barry Sykes left Brods with the edge at lineout time, and the spoils were fairly even at the scrummage. Brods used Phil Horton, playing at 8, as their first attacking option to carry the ball to the line, and Dean Porter at blindside together with Paul Bottomley at inside centre proved up to the defensive task.
In the loose the Heath forwards also did their bit in defence with Jimmy Li and Dave Allen continuing to back up on several strong performances. Li in particular brought off two crunching one on one hits which put the opposition back over the gain line and stopped the attack dead.
When Brods did throw the ball wide they more often than not came up with an error, and with Heath looking dangerous on the counter it was no surprise when Martin Barnes seized on a loose ball around half way and beat a couple of would be tacklers to the line - two in two games for our form winger. The conversion was missed leaving the score at 5 – 0.
Brods replied by way of a penalty kick to bring the score to 5 – 3, and just before the half time whistle Barnes swooped on a loose ball and was away clear before the referee brought play back for a knock on in an earlier tackle.
Confidence was high when the second half kicked off and Heath continued to stick to the task. Unfortunately for Heath, passes along the backline started to stick and with most re-starts being lineouts rather than scrums the lack of possession began to tell. Brods took a well worked try to the corner, and their kicker landed an excellent conversion from out wide.
Heath continued to press, with Steve Fraser making a couple of half line breaks through good straight running. Unfortunately, the support couldn’t get there in time, and from the resulting phases we kept coming up with errors.
A further penalty goal and a try in the last minutes of the game put the result beyond Heath’s reach, but this was another strong performance by the thirds against a good opposition.
