Honours even at Pontefract

Honours even at Pontefract

Heath travelled to Pontefract on a sunny Sunday morning with signs of Spring in the air. Both teams have been evenly matched in previous games and promised to be an entertaining game.

Heath were playing into the low sun in the first half. A strong start by Pontefract with multiple phases and getting into the Heath half. From a scrum Bradley Gill shipped the ball to Sonny Gordon, then Ethan Murphy who drew defenders in to offload to centre partner Logan Hall who steamed in to score. Ponte 0 - 5 Heath.

Ponte we’re holding their shape well and started to dominate possession. Heath’s defence was robust in the face of strong runs from the Ponte pack. Eventually they broke through to draw level. Ponte 5 - 5 Heath.

Jasper Haigh and Wilf Bridge were disrupting up front. Logan Helliwell-MacDonald and Alex Kershaw were making strong runs down the middle. This was giving Heath more possession and led to two opportunities for Ethan Murphy to score down the left touchline. Unfortunately the linesman judged on both occasions that Murphy put a foot in touch - fine margins.

In the final play of the first half it was Ponte who finished strong and broke the Heath line.

Halftime: Ponte 10 - 5 Heath. The referee spoke with the players at halftime to praise the tackle technique which was outstanding. Heath had a good first half but needed to find a way to maintain more possession.

In the second half Ponte kicked off and Heath immediately found space down the right and Ethan Murphy sprinted away to score within the first minute. Ponte 10 - 10 Heath.

Ponte started to make gains down the middle with strong runs by their pack. After a line break good hands by Ponte led to their next try. Ponte 15 - 10 Heath. This was followed quickly by another Ponte score. Ponte 20 - 10 Heath.

Heath struck back after a great interchange between Humphrey Hall, who sucked in three defenders to offload to Ethan Murphy to score. Ponte 20 - 15 Heath.

Ponte extended their lead to 25 - 15, and a further break by Ponte led to the Ponte playing dropping the ball over the line. The Ponte supporters were able to help the referee the clear up any doubt over the knock-on - great sportsmanship by their supporters.

It looked like Heath were on the ropes and Ponte sensed the opportunity to finish the visitors off. However the Heath lads have grown stronger mentally and demonstrated great resilience to stay in the fight. After some fierce tackling, particularly Alfie Cartwright, Heath secured the ball and Logan Hall sprinted away to score. Ponte 25 - 20 Heath.

With a minute remaining Heath had the ball in their half. In the last play of the game from a solid ruck the ball was passed from left to right and gave Logan Hall enough space to sprint away to score and secure his hattrick.

Final score Ponte 25 - 25 Heath.

Always great playing Ponte. Both teams play a good standard of rugby and clearly enjoy the physical side of the game. Defence was massive for both teams and were well matched. Great to see Logan Hall playing with confidence this morning demonstrated by his return of three tries.

A really pleasing performance by our lads - well done everyone!

Player of the match - Alfie Cartwright

Most Improved - Bradley Gill