Painful day for Heath

They were beaten 47-8 in Yorkshire One by the up-and-coming hosts, who were stung by a rare defeat the previous Saturday at Old Brodleians.

In glorious conditions, the ground was in tip-top condition and a shirt-sleeved crowd looked forward to a fast, open game.

Heath were without Eddie Cartwright and leading points-scorer Ezra Hincliffe, so Dom Horn made his debut at centre alongside Louis Barrett.

Promoted West Leeds opened their account with a splendid try on six minutes, scything through the Heath defence on a 50 metre break.

The conversion was added but Jordan Bradbrook reduced the lead with a well taken penalty five minutes later.

When West Leeds powered into a 21-3 lead with two converted tries in the space of six minutes the signs were looking ominous as Heath had no answer to the confident handling and swift running of their hosts.

Ben Maxwell and Si Brown both went off injured to be replaced by Downsborough and Jacob Storey.

Downsborough was soon heading to the sidelines and West Leeds scored again to lead 26-3 after 30 minutes.

Heath had hoped to boss affairs up front but West Leeds produced some fearless tackling and dominated the scrums. With this platform,and their speedy backs, a cricket score looked possible.

Coach Dave Harrison introduced Chris Moore to take Chris Piper’s position in the front row and this steadied the ship, although Moore injured a wrist subsequently.

West Leeds added to their tally early in the second half to lead 33-3 but the Halifax side camped on the hosts’ for 10 minutes with No 8 Richard Brown a tower of strength.

On 61 minutes, Leeds broke the stranglehold and romped the length of the pitch for another converted try.

The home left winger sped through untouched for the pick of the tries and the kick made it 47–3 before Fergus Marsden latched on to a loose ball and tip-toed over for a consolation try.