Another tight one. But, another win.

Selection:

Burbidge, Hirst, Heron, Beck, Keighley-Payne, Boothroyd, Nick Payne, Sharp.

Rowntree, Hall, Cadogan, Thornton, West, Freeth, Granger.

Dance, Starkey (Spam), Baxter, Bruce.

Scorers:

Tries: Max Rowntree, Harry Granger, & Henry Hirst.
Con: Ben Hall
Pen: Ben Hall

Report:

Brods 17-20 Hawks

Heath travelled to Brods expecting a tough test against their local rivals, a single point separating their most recent played fixture.

Brods won the toss and played uphill; Heath got off to a flyer with dominance across the pitch. The scrum was turning ball over and the lineout proving lots of quality ball.

Heath raced into a 17-0 lead and were rampant. Henry Hirst was the beneficiary of a lineout drive crafted by man of the match Carrick Keighley-Payne and pack leader Sam Sharp.

Captain for the day Max Rowntree scored following barn storming runs from Richard Dance, an early arrival for the injured Oli Burbidge. Returning first teamers Ben Hall and Josh Beck showed up well as Heath’s back line crafted a try for Harry Granger. Hall managed one conversion.

It looked one way traffic, Heron anchoring the pack and Harry Freeth his usual dynamic self was everywhere. The back line looked potent - full back Jack Bruce ran from deep supported by Phil Cadogan and George West. Matty Thornton blasted down the middle on regular occasions.

Full credit to Brods, they battled back. Heath went close numerous times but poor execution and errors were compounded by strong defence.

Brods gained confidence, they trundled up the hill on the back of poor discipline and decision making. The game became disjointed, flowing one way then the other before Brods picked and went close to the line before crashing over on the stroke of half time. Only 12 points to the good going up the hill was a tough ask and so it became.

Starkey replaced Payne who sustained a nasty cut, wrong place wrong time as it was a Keighley-Payne tackle that caught him. Brods brought on stalwarts Fee and Pritchett, the latter scoring 2 tries and showed how to carry down the hill.

Bruce left the field succumbing to the groin injury. The pressure got to Heath, 2 yellow cards in quick succession and the game was swinging Brods’ way, 12-17. However this Heath team is made of sterner stuff, too a man they battled for each other, Keighley-Payne, Dancey and Sharp to the fore defensively with West and Thornton solid in midfield.

Granger pushed and probed moving from wing to scrum half and then full back. Heath clawed their way upfield and earned a penalty 30 yards out and fairly central. Ben Hall stepped up and whilst he’d not been striking the ball with too much power the accuracy was good and Heath took an important 8 point lead.

This wasn’t the end though, Brods gave one final onslaught, battering the Heath line, whilst they made it across once with no conversion they had a chance late on with a lineout 10m out. Sam Sharp et al got Keighley-Payne flying high, a stolen ball and then the final whistle as the ball was cleared.

Heath win 20-17. Credit to Brods of course but this Heath team is made of a different gravy; missing a dozen or more genuine senior players had an impact. Was the game pretty, certainly not, after the first quarter anyhow, but a load of resilience will stand them in good stead.

One more push, Wetherby away, towards the top of the table at Christmas. Then time to re-group as both teams push forward to another level.

Merry Xmas all from the Hawks 🦅 

Photography.

All photos courtesy Andy Keighley.