Heath enjoy a try fest, in very sticky conditions

Despite overnight rain, the table topping 2nds were able to take the field against bottom of the table Skipton. In very muddy conditions, it looked like it was going to be a game played largely in the pack, a ploy that may have given Skipton an advantage, due to size differentials, but how wrong that proved to be. Skipton kicked off, but the ball was securely caught and passed to Gleeson for an excellent clearing kick downfield, forcing a lineout on our opponents 22. This was a game plan, which was used to excellent effect throughout the match. With the superior mobility of the Heath forwards, moving their Skipton opponents around the pitch, would eventually take its toll, and negate the benefit of their larger size. Heath spoilt the initial Skipton lineout, and when the ball reached Gleeson, he ran back into the pack, drawing in Skipton defenders. The ball was spread wide to M Cook, who broke the gain line and then released Barnes to score under the posts, first blood to Heath in under 5 minutes. Gleeson took the extra points, to make it 7-0. The writing was on the wall for a significant victory , when from the very next play, Kerr secured the ball, ran into contact , setting the ball up to be released to Berridge , who then passed to M Cook for a try out wide, the very difficult conversion was missed by Gleeson , 12-0 to Heath. Skipton unluckily kicked straight to touch from the restart, and Captain James elected to take the scrum back. The scrum was proving difficult to control, against the spirited Skipton drives, but Gleeson again made the 22 with his clearance. Skipton tried to clear from the lineout, but Wilkinson returned the ball with interest, Webb was stopped just short of the line, but when joined by the pack, he was driven forward and dropped over the try line for a further score, which was not converted 17-0. From the restart, the pattern continued, ball was returned and Heath drove on, a huge tackle by Dawes caused the ball to be spilled by Skipton and they then knocked on giving possession to Heath. Skipton, to their credit, managed to push Heath off of their ball and earned a penalty when we failed to release in the tackle. From the lineout, the ball went to ground and was recycled again by Dawes and the backs were in full flow once again, only to be thwarted with an unlucky knock on by Hinchcliffe. This time it was Heaths turn to apply pressure in the scrum, and O Cook was able to collect the ball and break the defensive line, seeing Kerr on his inside he released the ball, as he was tackled, for a try under the posts allowing an easy conversion to take the score to 24-0. Giraud came on for Dance, with Wilkinson moving into Flanker. The next 15 minutes of play were dominated by a resurgent Skipton. They managed to pin Heath back in their 22 for several phases but great defence by James, Cook and Kerr held them back, with support from Williams. Eventually Gleeson was able to clear to relieve the onslaught, but several knock on’s prevented further scores. Heath came close again, when a kick through by Webb was knocked on over the line, in his attempt to collect. Kerr left the field to recover from a lower back injury and Dance replaced him. Giraud now started to exert his influence from a new position on the wing, he collected several kicks and ran the ball back to setup forward drives. Skipton then produced a rare turnover from a ruck, but were unlucky to see their clearance narrowly fail to bounce in field, resulting in a lineout back just outside their 22. Dawes was lifted to take the ball off the top of the lineout, and Collinge sent the ball for the excellent Gleeson to produce a mazy run to restart the scoring under the posts, which he then converted 31-0. Giraud again collected the kick-off, ran into contact and the forwards setup several drives from the ruck, with Dance at the forefront , the call made its way once again to Gleeson to score and convert . The referee then blew for half time with the score at 38-0 Owen left the field and Kerr replaced him From the kick off, Skipton earned a very early penalty, however the ball stayed in field from the kick and the ever improving Berridge outpaced several chasing opponents, there was then a great passage of passing via Cook and Giraud and back allowing Barnes to receive the ball in space, to score his 2nd of the afternoon. The conversion went just wide to move the scoreboard onto 43-0. The kick-off again was returned by Gleeson, and in the ensuing chase Heath knocked on. However they overturned the scrum and Webb broke the line once again before spreading the ball wide, for Tom Berridge to score .Gleeson converted the difficult chance to move the score onto 50-0 This time it was Berridge who collected the ball, from the restart and produced a clearing kick, which was unlucky to bounce into touch on halfway. Heath won the lineout against the throw and Webb once again made space to set Gleeson on his way for his hat trick which he duly converted. 57-0. James, who was starting his first match since the arm injury encountered at Wetherby, was then replaced by Owen. Shortly afterwards Heath were awarded a scrum after a knock-on and, from the ensuing play, Webb again broke through for another try under the posts which was converted by Gleeson. 64-0 From the kick off Skipton won a penalty for offside, however they once again failed to find touch and the ball was dispatched to their 22. Skipton drove through from the lineout, but a pack effort pushed them into touch for a further lineout. Skipton managed to win the ball and kicked for field position, Berridge was there once again to run and then kick into the Skipton half, the ball was secured and Gleeson ran in again under the posts to make his conversion a formality. 71-0 Skipton, despite valiant efforts were dead on their feet, and there were still 20 mins to go on the clock, the crowd thought it might not be long before the ref bought an early end to proceedings. Heath kept their minds on the task in hand though, Gleeson , true to form cleared from the kick off , and Heath won another lineout against the throw, Cook ran the ball to near the 5m line and unselfishly released Giraud for a well-deserved try, Gleeson failed to convert this time 76-0 There was time for one further score, the return from the kick off was run back and the ball found its way to Cook who was tackled on the line and the ball went forward however, from the Skipton scrum, Barnes collected the ball to score to the left of the post and the ref blew for time 15 mins early. Heath remained cemented at the top of the table Final score 81-0 The Players and scores: 1. O Cook. 6. Dawes. 11. Owen 2. Barnes (3 x T) 7. Wilkinson 12. Webb. (2 x T) 17. Giraud (1 x T) 3. Kerr (1 x T) 8. Williams 13 M Cook. (1 x T) 4. James 9. Collinge 14 Hinchliffe 5. Dance 10. Gleeson (c) (4 x T & 8 x C). 15 Berridge (1 x T)