A game of two halves

Heath u14s 12 - 19 Rochdale

The Heath u14s were back playing at HQ  hosting Rochdale after a few weeks on the road.  Conditions were wet and windy so tricky conditions for both teams.  Heath had 17 in the squad with debutant Alfie Oddy starting on the bench.  Rochdale had 18 players and the biggest opposition that the lads had faced to date.

Having won the toss Rochdale chose to kick and Heath decided to stick and play towards the River Calder with a strong cross wind from right to left.

Rochdale started strongly retaining possession well.  Within the first five minutes they had created an opportunity and took it well.

Heath 0 - 7 (5 mins converted).

After this initial pressure Heath started to find their way into the game.  The Heath scrum was dominant winning a couple against the head.  At the breakdown the lads were competing well against the bigger team.

Louie Moss was winded temporarily so was replaced by Oscar Szadbey.  Five minutes later electric winger Cori McNamara took a bad knock to the head and was removed from play for a HIA.  Louie Moss returned to the field of play.

There was a rare break into Rochdale’s half by speedster Alfie Cartwright.  Rochdale were able to contain what was a great chance.

The remainder of the half was played in Heath’s territory.  With further pressure Rochdale were in Heath’s 20m red zone and their 6ft 5in big lad crashed over under the posts.  The halftime whistle went.

Heath 0 - 14 (converted - HT).

Further changes were made at the start of the second half.  Charlie Anderson, who had taken some great line outs under pressure, took a break and Alfie Oddy came on to make his debut on the wing.  Oscar Szadbey moved into the pack.  Heath needed possession to stand a chance of getting back in the game.

After a penalty against Rochdale for offside, a well judge kick by Sonny Gordon took Heath to 5m out on the left.  With a slick hands from Wilf Bridge back to Logan Helliwell-McDonald who bust over in the corner.

Heath 5 - 14 Rochdale (34 mins unconverted).

The next ten minutes of the game was a real arm wrestle and Heath stepped up their physicality to match Rochdale.  The stalemate was broken after Rochdale had received a penalty for a high tackle and was 10m out.  Rochdale charged over to the right of the posts.

Heath 5 - 19 Rochdale (45 mins unconverted)

With three minutes of play left, Heath secured possession 60m from the Rochdale try line.  The ball went from left to right with good hands in midfield out to Alfie Cartwright who then went outside his opposite number, stepped in then out again, and finished a fantastic try under the posts.

Heath 12 - 19 Rochdale (48 mins converted by Louie Moss).

There’s was time for one last push to draw level.  However the ball was knocked on and game came to an end.

Heath 12 - 19 Rochdale (FT).

This was a game of two halves.  Rochdale were dominant in the first half scoring 14 points with no reply.  Heath were able to dig deep and win the second half 12 - 5.  Both sets of lads played in the spirit of the game and did their respective clubs proud.

Players of the week: Logan Helliwell-McDonald and Alfie Cartwright.

Next week we host Castleford at HQ.

Pictures by Nick Szadbey