Heath put the bite on Bulldogs

THIS win for Thatto Heath over local rivals Blackbrook not only tucks them in behind Hull Dockers in second place in the National Conference League Division Two, but also establishes them as the highest-ranked amateur club in the town.

In atrocious weather conditions that made handling difficult and restricted Heath's usual expansive game, it was Brook who opened the scoring. An excellent break by full-back Paul Toole and a neat pass set up centre Mark Shaw to score out wide. Toole was unable to convert.

But the Bulldogs were quickly brought to heel with three first-half tries. The first came from a powerful break by centre Jamie Hill who broke throught with a great angled run before putting winger Phil Glover away to score out wide.

In a physical contest both packs acquitted themselves well but it was the strong runs and tackling of props Horton and Waterworth for Heath that started to dominate field position. Crusaders' half-backs Mitchell and Ashall started to get the edge over Shaw and Callaghan and Heath were twice denied 'tries' for forward passes before a break by Ashall put Anthony Marsh over in the corner.

Ten minutes later Marsh turned provider when he chipped ahead on the last tackle for Mike Woods to score. An impressive touchline conversion by Wayne Jackman sent Heath into the beak with a 10-point lead.

The first set of six in the second half saw Barry Ashall extend Heath's lead with a drop goal after the Heath pack had again achieved good yardage through Lloyd and Harris.

Brook closed the gap in the 50th minute when Toole converted a penalty for a high tackle. But any hopes the Bulldogs had of getting into the game were surely dashed when winger Ste Woods and prop Phil Hamblett were sin-binned for alleged high tackle and tripping offences respectively

Heath made the most of their numerical advantage and scored two tries in the last quarter. Second-rower Geoff Williams who had run the ball up tirelessly all afternoon provided the field position for Darren Mitchell to put Jamie Hill in the clear to score out wide.

And the final Heath score came through strong work by replacement hooker Al Holmes who, despite being held up over the line, managed to slip the ball out to enable Hill to grab his hat-trick. Jackman again converted from the touchline to seal victory.

Marple men of the match were Martin Horton in the forward and Jamie Hill in the backs.

This Saturday, Heatha are away to Castleford Panthers. The coach will leave the Springfield Hotel at 11.15am.

Rylands Sharks u/11s 14 Crusaders 18

Playing in wet conditions, Crusaders got their teeth into the Sharks with a much-improved perfomance.

Try scorers were Antony Harden, Martin Harper, Tom Crouch and Daniel Williamson with Andrew Yates kicking a goal.

Best for Crusaders to earn Super Nova Awards were man-of-the-match Chima Maxwell, coaches awards Martin Harper and Andrew Yates and top tackler was Ste Barton.