Heath make Rochdale work hard for win

Heath u13s travelled to Rochdale with a squad of 14 missing eight regulars due to injuries and half term holidays. We welcomed back Ethan Carter at hooker meaning versatile Logan Helliwell-MacDonald moving to centre partnering up with Logan Hall. Electric Ethan Murphy moved from centre to fullback giving him more room to roam and test Rochdale defence. The final key change was Alex Kershaw becoming our fourth scrum half in three weeks. After a good warm up on the heavy pitch the lads were good to go!

From kick-off it was clear the Rochdale game plan was to get the ball to their massive second rower as much as possible. He was a handful for sure and after a couple of rampaging runs he scored. Rochdale 5 - 0 Heath

At the restart Heath started to build phases in the Rochdale half. After multiple rucks the ball went down the line with Ethan Murphy cutting a great angle to score from 15m out. Rochdale 5 - 5 Heath.

Heath were faster to the breakdown and were getting over the ball well. This should have led to penalties for holding on, however the referee interpreted that rucks were formed. This caused some frustration on and off the pitch. That said it was Heath who scored again with a lovely move getting width from left to right with Charlie Anderson diving over in the corner. Rochdale 5 - 10 Heath.

Unfortunately Heath lost second row and workhorse Jasper Haigh to a nasty clash of heads with his own player. This meant Heath were down to 13 players (no more subs) for the rest of the game. It would be a tall ask as Rochdale had a full bench to draw on. Soon after Rochdale crossed the line to draw even. Rochdale 10 - 10 Heath.

With seconds remaining of the first half good hands from half backs Alex Kershaw and Sonny Gordon released Logan Helliwell-MacDonald who charged down the field for Ethan Murphy to break away to score his second try. Heath went into the halftime break with a deserved lead. Rochdale 10 - 15 Heath.

The referee and Heath Head Coach Gordon had a healthy debate at halftime on the laws of the ruck which clarified that the ref would continue to interpret in his own way. The Heath lads needed to adjust but a tough message as the jackal is one of Heath’s strengths.

The second half started similar to the first. Rochdale had two dangerous runners and were making the most of them. Rochdale drew level. Rochdale 15 - 15 Heath.

With a couple of knocks Heath were temporarily down to 12 players and gaps were found by Rochdale to score again. Rochdale 20 - 15 Heath.

Pressure was now piling on, Heath’s defensive effort was huge across the team particularly Logan Helliwell-MacDonald. On Heath’s 20m line the ball went blind and Ethan Murphy sprinted the length of the pitch down the left flank to score his hat-trick. Rochdale 20 - 20 Heath.

The lads were now running out of gas and some walking wounded. This scoreline would have been a fair result but with 5 mins left to play Rochdale took advantage of the bigger squad and Heath down to 12. With two late tries Rochdale won.

Final score Rochdale 30 - 20 Heath.

The lads played some great rugby today and super proud of the style of play and sticking to their game plan of building phases through effective rucking and good hands. The defence today was immense by the whole team.

Man of the match - Logan Helliwell-MacDonald