Thatto Heath 37 Siddal 14

Champions' Challenge ALTHOUGH not present for this game new head coach Derek McVey's coaching methods were very apparent in both attack and defence as Heath cruised to victory against Pennine League Champions, Siddal from Halifax.

Heath got off to a dream start following a deep kick by loose forward Darren Harris, which was knocked on by the Siddal full-back two minutes into the game. Harris picked the ball up from the base of the resultant scrum and broke blind drawing both the Siddal loose forward and centre to put scrum-half, Barry Ashall, through the gap who then out-paced the Siddal cover to score to the left of the posts.

Five minutes later, from a penalty against Siddal for not playing the ball correctly, the ball was whipped across the line from right to left using a smart run-around to see right centre Gary Welsby tackled 15 metres out.

From the play-the-ball, the ball was fed to strong running left centre Darren Blanchfield who sucked in three players before giving a neat overhead pass to Harris who showed great strength to just get the ball down in the left hand corner despite the attention of three Siddal players.

Heath were now in full flow, keeping the ball alive at every opportunity and another fine crossfield move, again from right to left, saw left wingman Mike Woods just short of the line.

Siddal, however, were far from dead and buried and following sustained pressure in the Heath half, hooker Matthew Smithys forced his way over from acting-half to score to the left of the posts.

Heath his back from the kick-off as Harris stepped out of a would-be-tackle to set off on a fine 60-yard run. Again, Ashall was in support to take the final pass as Harris drew the full-back, giving Ashall a clear run to score under the posts. Ashall was on target with the conversion.

Just before half-time Ashall slotted over a drop goal.

Heath restarted the second half with a deep kick into the Siddal half which saw Siddal knock-on. From the scrum, a well executed run-around involving Ashall and stand-off Chris Honey, saw the latter put Ashall through the gap to complete his well earned hat-trick. Again the conversion attempt went wide. From the restart Siddal made their way down field, helped by some slack tackling on Heath's part and it was Siddal's turn to show how to keep the ball alive resulting in centre Lee Child crossing the whitewash. Winger Tony Brown converted.

Heath responded quickly to this try following a powerful run down the centre by substitute forward Paul Littler. Following this break the ball went left for full-back Wayne Jackman to burst through the defence and although he was caught only a metre from the line he managed to release the ball for supporting Blanchfield to pick up the score out wide. The conversion attempt fell short.

Heath had now taken full control of this game and 25 minutes into the second half, a penalty was given against Siddal 20 metres out for holding down following a fine break by right winger Neil Prescott. The ball was whipped quickly across field for prop Martin Horton to drive hard towards the posts. Horton managed to release the ball in the tackle and the ball continued towards the left wing for Woods to score in the corner.

Mistakes by Siddal were now being forced by the strong defence demonstrated by Heath as they now struggled to get out of their own half.

Another strong run by Littler saw him release the ball in the tackle, despite the attention of five Siddal defenders, 20 metres out. The ball was passed quickly from right to left for substitute Paul Ashurst to cut through the Siddal defence and score to the left of the posts. Jackman converted to take the score to 33-10. With ten minutes remaining Siddal showed some slick handling skills themselves when, deep in the Heath half, the ball went from the right wing to the left wing and then back to the right, for the right winger to pass inside to centre Martin Thompson who scored out wide. The conversion attempt missed.

Heath finished off the scoring from a scrum just inside the Siddal half. The ball went quickly towards the left wing for Blanchfield to draw in the Siddal wing and give a perfectly timed pass to Woods who drove in at the corner to score his second try making the final score 37-14.

This good all round performance by Heath was marred slightly by the loss of their captain, Harris, with a broken jaw just before half-time. The man-of-the-match award went to Ashall but he was pushed hard for this by both Jackman and Blanchfield.

Next Saturday Heath take on Wigan St Judes in the semi-final of this competition - kick off 1.30pm. The coach will leave The Springfield Hotel at 11.45am.

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