Yorkshire Division One: Bradford Salem 14 Heath 47

HEATH followed up their 26-23 win over Bradford Salem in the Yorkshire Shield the previous week with a more emphatic 47-14 victory in Yorkshire Division One.

Salem were missing their influential No 8 and vice-captain Christian Baines and prop Tom O’Sullivan, both of whom had been sent off the week before.

The hosts were also without the injured Sam Gardner and Brendan Birkett which meant that, with Ali Veitch and Mark Darragh also unavailable, Salem were forced into fielding a pack with only one player playing in the same position as the one that took the field just seven days earlier!

Although Heath were missing prop forward Chris Moores, who had also received his marching orders in the Shield fixture, the visitors were boosted by the return of Peter Birkett at scrum half, Jordan Bradbrook in the centre and Richard Brown at No 8 and, as it turned out, these three changes - and particularly Brown - proved to be the difference.

On a wet and blustery afternoon at Shay Lane, Salem, with the wind at their backs, had the better of the early exchanges.

However, a loose pass was intercepted by Heath’s speedy winger Callum Harriett-Brown, who was unceremoniously brought down by a clumsy high challenge by Salem fly half and skipper Andy Robinson.

From the resultant penalty, the visitors were able to drive downfield and, after a period of pressure, Brown forced his way over for a try that was improved by centre Ezra Hinchcliffe to give Heath an early 7-0 lead.

Salem then had a period of domination but it took until the 23rd minute for them to get back on level terms when flanker Nick Fontaine scored following a kick and chase by centre Ryan Smith, with full back Danny Belcher adding the extras.

Straight from the restart, Salem were forced into touch, and, from the ensuing line-out, Heath regained the lead when fast hands created a try for Bradbrook which Hinchcliffe improved.

The real turning point in the game came four minutes later as a penalty gave Salem a line-out on their opponents' five-metre line.

However, they lost the ball on their own throw and Heath broke away to score against the run of play as Harriett-Brown won the chase to the ball after it was hacked through to put his side 19-7 ahead.

To their credit, Salem hit back when Fontaine latched on to a well-timed inside pass to score his second try, which Belcher converted to reduce the arrears to 19-14.

Unfortunately, the Heaton side then received a setback as Liverpool Society referee Ray Galloway sent veteran hooker Simon Markey to the sin-bin for diving over the ball.

Things got worse for Salem early in the second half as they were reduced to 13 men when former England international Dan Scarbrough, who had just come on for the injured Callum Armstrong, was rightly yellow carded for barging a man off the ball.

Then, despite the fact that a minute later Markey and Scarbrough were joined in the sin-bin by visiting skipper and blind-side flanker Ian Downsborough, who was guilty of a high shot on Robinson, Heath, who had a one-man advantage, stretched Salem out wide to create a second try for Harriett-Brown.

Hinchliffe landed the touchline conversion to give the Halifax high-fliers a healthy 26-14 scoreline.

In deteriorating conditions, Heath at this stage were very much on top and a converted try by Birkett extended their lead to 33-14.

Salem’s morale was further affected by the sad sight of their legendary Kiwi second-rower Dean McNicholl, who had come on as a replacement, having to leave the field with a badly dislocated elbow.

To add to Salem’s misery, Heath were then awarded a penalty try to give them an unassailable 40-14 lead.

Then Brown capped a man of the match performance as he broke through a tired defence to score his second try, improved by Hinchcliffe, to seal a convincing 47-14 win.