Rugby round-up: Wins for Heath, Old Brods and Old Crossleyans but Rishies fight back to draw

Brods faced a Moortown team who play a similar type of game to the Hipperholme boys and both sides contributed to a hard fought contest with in difficult conditions.

Brods elected to play up the slope against the elements and started well taking the game to the visitors with some strong carries by Pete Williams and Cole Wilson.

After the visitors took a 7-0 lead, Brods responded well and took the game deep into Moortown territory with Alex Dawson and Elliot Craven carrying well. The pressure was beginning to tell and Moortown had to defend strongly to keep the Brods at bay.

When the ball was moved to the left wing the home crowd believed they had scored in the corner however the touch judge’s flag was up and the score was disallowed.

The Hipperholme boys continued to press and the visitors defence was stretched to the limit when an attempted clearance kick was charged down and It was the ever hard working Bob Sykes who dived upon the ball for a well deserved try. The conversion from the touchline fell short to leave the score at 5-7 at half time.

A good effort in the conditions against a strong wind and a greasy ball.

The second half opened with Brods having a penalty awarded for offside and Town duly dispatched the kick from 40 metres to give Brods a narrow lead.

Brods continued to press with strong running from Cole Wilson and Cameron Wroot once more taking play deep into visitors territory.

Brods' scrum was dominant and against the head drove their opposition backwards near their line to earn a penalty. Brods opted to scrum again and with another mighty surge Wroot picked up at the base and powered over the Moortown line from some 10 metres.

Town's conversion extended the lead to 15-7.

From the restart Moortown reacted positively and immediately went on the attack with some strong running in centre field from their backline and they took advantage of two missed tackles to score between the Brods’ posts and with a conversion the game was still in the melting pot at 15-14.

Moortown continued to press the Brods defence from the restart however, having resisted the Moortown onslaught with solid defence, Brods cleared their lines and counter attacked deep into Moortown territory.

From a lineout on the right Brods drove forward at pace with Alex Dawson leading the way and good support from Cole Wilson Cameron took the final pass to score a superb forwards try in the corner. The conversion went wide and Brods now had a lead of 20-14.

As the game moved into the closing minutes Brods continued to look for a try bonus, however the visitors defended their line and eventually they were penalised for being offside and Town took the opportunity to extend the Brods' lead to 23-14 and a well deserved victory.

A gritty and determined performance saw Heath return to top spot with a 10-8 win at Ilkley.

Heath welcomed back Matt Beasty and Jonny Cole and gave a starting berth to Jason Merrie with Eddie Cartwright also having a start following the late withdrawal of Matt Hallett for this top of the table clash against Ilkley who, for many, are this season's tip to win the Championship title.

Following overnight rain the pitch was heavy which favoured Heaths mighty pack and both sides had to contend with a strong wind blowing down the ground.

Heath kicked off with the wind at their backs but were immediately on the defence as the home side handled well and went through the phases with some slick passing.

Heath managed to defend the onslaught and when the first scum came showed their power controlling the ball allowing Will McLaughlin to break and make valuable yardage.

Next up, a clever kick from Dom Walsh to the corner saw the flying wingman Elliott Spiers chasing the ball down.

It had been a tense start to the game as both sides tested each other out, but the breakthrough came on 15 minutes when from another scrum the visitors pack drove forwards the try-line and Will McLaughlin was on hand to break free and score an opening try in the corner, superbly converted by Alex Bull, and Heath led 7-0.

Ilkley's response was immediate but they could not break down a resolute defence and from one break it was Paul Turner who stopped an Ilkley player with a brilliant tackle to halt any progress.

His example was typified by the rest of the Heath team who certainly looked as if they were up for the challenge.

It wasn’t until the 24 minute that Ilkley made inroads into the Heath 22 and they were rewarded with a converted penalty to reduce the arrears, 7-3.

Heath responded well and kept possession of the ball as they probed for another score but against the run of play Ilkley broke through the visitors defensive line to score a try in the corner and took the lead 8-7 with 35 minutes on the clock.

Heath responded with another surge with power runs from Jack Pilcher, Matt Beasty and Paul Turner and with half time approaching were awarded a penalty which Alex Bull converted, 10-8 with half time whistle blew.

It had been a torrid and tense first half with Heath just about deserving their lead.

The second half began with Heath receiving the ball and Callum Harriott-Brown went on a super run scything through the home defence before being stopped in the Ilkley 22.

Heath continued to dominate the scrum as Ilkley struggled to maintain the pressure but they weathered the storm and it became a strategic battle.

Ilkley began to put more pressure on the Heath defence and a certain try looked on the cards but a poor pass let Heath off the hook. In the defensive melee Eddie Cartwright received a yellow card and Heath were up against it with fourteen players on the field.

Next up, Ilkley were awarded a penalty but an easy kicked was missed much to the relief of the huge visiting contingent of supporters.

From the re-start, the ball was quickly kicked back and with the home team players charging towards the try-line acting full back Elliott Spiers covered and the danger passed.

The pressure continued and when Ilkley went over for a try, much to the relief of the Heath crowd, the referee disallowed it for an earlier infringement.

This constant pressure was broken by a brilliant run from Joe Morrison who galloped half the length of the field to relieve and this was backed up with runs from Elliot Spiers, Will McLaughlin and Jason Merrie.

With 10 minutes remaining it was still anyone's game but the Heath forwards were still dominant and in no mood to concede anything Ilkley threw at them.

With time running out Ilkley mounted one final onslaught but Heath would not lie down and wound down the clock with some heroic defensive work.

With Ilkley in possession they could not find a way through the Heath defensive line and a dropped pass saw Heath get possession and kick the ball into touch for and superb win.

Heath Seconds produced an excellent 38-5 win at home to Kirby Lonsdale.

Old Rishworthians gifted Leodiensians two early tries in their 22-22 draw, but finished the game brilliantly.

In the end they might have won it, but Josh Kelly was faced with the most difficult of conversion attempts in terrible conditions and his kick drifted wide to end the game.

Both sides attempted to play expansive rugby on a heavy pitch but the constant heavy rain made handling difficult.

Rishworthians started and finished strongly, but in a recurring theme of recent matches, seemed ineffectual in the middle part of the game.

It was a baptism of fire at scrum half for newcomer Arthur Wilkinson, but he coped well and almost got over in the opening minutes as Rishworthians’ much lighter scrum drove the visitors back.

Kelly hit the post with a penalty attempt, but then things changed.

High kicks seemed the perfect option in the appalling conditions. But from one the ball bounced perfectly into the hands of a Leos player, who avoided the onrushing home men and ran through to score wide out.

Rishworthians fought back and looked good with the ball in hand, but the difficult conditions meant handling errors were always likely and a dropped ball was kicked through and they lost the race to touch down. The conversion put them 12 points adrift.

The teams then traded penalties until a brilliant score to end the half gave Rishworthians hope. Centre Andrew Esmond made the break before the ball went wide for winger Issac Riley to score in the corner. Kelly’s excellent touchline conversion made it 10-15 at half-time.

Leos changed to a tighter pick and go game in the second half, which Rishworthians struggled to contain.

Mistakes compounded the situation and they found themselves under pressure for long periods.

They defended well but there was no stopping big heavy prop David Robinson from two yards out.

The conversion put the home men 12 points adrift again.

As the game moved into the last quarter Rishworthians changed themselves to more of a pick and go tactic and it paid dividends.

They gained a scrum near Leos line and the ball went out for Esmond to burst through to score. Kelly added the conversion.

They took control in the dying minutes putting the visitors’ line under threat until finally the ball came wide for replacement winger Aaron Nowell to squeeze over in the corner to level the scores with the most difficult of conversion attempts left to win. This time Kelly was unable to oblige.

On the other pitch the Development team beat Baildon 33-10. There were three tries for Thomas Jowle and others by Kurt Sutcliffe and Tom Gillespie. Kian Sutcliffe kicked four conversions.

Old Crossleyans beat Dinnington 10-5 to complete a league and double against them.

The conditions were again not favourable for flowing rugby, perhaps suiting Dinnington more with their strong bulky pack.

However, the game started with good Crocs pressure with Matty Beswick, Billy Hammond and Ruben Pollard all coming close to the Dinnington try line.

Dinnington weathered pressure well making Crocs work hard to retain their ruck ball.

Following some crocs indiscipline Dinnington seized the momentum on the back of their well organised line out. The Crocs defence though was solid.

Joe Gallagher then was given time on the ball and he produced some clever kicking out of hand, this led to the game's first try when a weighted cross field quick was regathered by Chris Vine who managed to evade the cover defence and release an inside pass to the supporting pace man Jack Lumb, who crashed over from short range.

Joe Gallagher then managed to add the extras from the touchline taking the score to 7-0.

Soon after the Crocs were almost in again following a fumble from a Joe Gallagher high kick, which Crocs turned quickly into attack putting wingman Matty Beswick in space, but failed to link up with his support and the ball was cleared by the covering Dinnington defence.

Then came a 20-plus phase onslaught of pick up and drives by Dinnington, not attractive to watch but very effective. The excellent defence of the Crocs headed up by Tom Metcalfe, Nick Falkner and Ruben Pollard was enough to keep the away team scoreless.

Then came what could be the turning point of the game when Dinnington won a penalty deep in the Crocs half end elected to go for the corner to utilize their effective lineout, unfortunately the kick out of hand was misguided and rolled dead, instead reversing possession back to the Crocs through a 22m restart, to which Crocs capitalized, eventually winning a penalty in the Dinnington half, which Joe Gallagher converted to take the score to 10-0 at half time.

The second half started in a similar pattern to the first with the Crocs dominating possession through strong runs from Nick Faulkner and Billy Hammond.

Dinnington then launched a good counter with centre Kale Huthings bursting through midfield knocking off some rare passive Crocs cover defence, but failed to link to his support man resulting in a knock on just short of the Crocs’ posts, and another let off for the Crocs.

The game then became very attritional with both teams struggling to maintain good spells of possession and territory.

Despite strong purposeful drives from Cameron Brannan and Sam Ives, the Crocs were unable to pierce the Dinnington defence.

Dinnington then gained momentum and following a lengthy period of possession with many drives close to the ruck they managed to craft an opening which the away team scrum half Kai Ramrattan took full advantage and dived over from short range to score their only try.

The score remained 10-5 though following an unsuccessful conversion.

The Crocs managed to see out the rest of the half to secure a well-earned result against a very powerful Dinnington side.