Roundhegians

Hegians faced local rivals Yarnbury hoping to get another win  and with Angus Reid starting at lock and Ronan Mckernan and Tom Foxton back in the squad there was only a small number of  changes from the previous game.

Hegians got off to a bright enough start but as they were playing against the wind it was not long before Yarnbury were able to get a long kick in to take them down into Hegians 22. The ball was picked up  by Iain Adamson who fed the ball to James Dobson who’s kick was charged down and  the Yarnbury winger who was following up was the first to the ball and touched down for the try. Although the fly half missed the kick Yarnbury were off to a great start, 5-0 up after only 2 minutes.

Hegians did not panic and were soon on the attack and were awarded a penalty for the tackler not releasing. Alex Jones decided to take a kick at goal but it just slid to the right of the posts. Hegians were carrying the ball well and making good ground through the forwards and some intelligently kicking from James Dobson allowed them to threaten the Yarnbury try line . A poor kick out from the Yarnbury backs went straight to Alex Jones and with Tom Bennett in acres of space he called for the cross field kick. A superb kick in the wind from Alex Jones allowed Tom Bennett the time to easily pick up the ball and score in the corner.

Hegians were soon back on the attack as they fielded kicks well and moved the ball around to counter attack well, producing some good kicks against the wind to gain territory. On 16 minutes Hegians moved the ball to the right quickly and a good run from winger Ewan Cameron took them into the opposition 22. From the following ruck, scrum half Harry Wollaston moved the ball quickly down the blindside and slipped the ball to Dave Gregory who sprinted away to score a good try in the corner. Alex Jones produced an excellent kick from wide out to take Hegians into a 12-5 lead.

Hegians  now had a lot of control of territory and possession but still had to be careful to make sure that the Yarnbury backs were not allowed space out wide. Hegians lost centre Iain Adamson to a collision with Dave Wison and they had to reorganise, bringing in Ewan Cameron to centre, with Greg Robinson moving to wing.

Hegians were soon back on the attack and a good penalty kick by James Dobson put them into the corner. With an effective catch and drive Hegians looked certain to score but dropped the ball over the line to miss the try scoring opportunity. Hegians were soon back threatening the Yarnbury defence and James Dobson was a constant threat. An interception by centre Elliot Jackson looked like a try scoring opportunity but he was tripped in midfield and had to be satisfied with a penalty.

Eventually, from a scrum in midfield James Dobson dummied and broke the line and with the full back in front of him he drew him and timed the pass perfectly to put Alex Jones in for the try under the posts. With Alex Jones making the straight forward conversion it took Hegians into a 19-5 lead.

There was still time for Hegians to add a 4^th try before half time as a a break from Harry Wollaston took them into the opposition 22 and as he looked to find Jonny Dobson he had to dive on the ball. With support arriving Hegians were able to get the ball wide to Greg Robinson who squeezed in to score a try in the corner. With the missed conversion, the score was 24-5 at half time with Hegians having already gained the bonus point.

The second half was an extreme disappoint to spectators and players alike. With Hegians having effectively won the game they were guilty of relaxing and did not show the urgency or focus required to add the additional tries that they would have hoped to.

Yarnbury worked hard and looked to run the ball at every opportunity but for the most part they were well contained by the Hegians defence and did not really threaten to score a try. When they did break through Hegians were able to put in good tackles from the cover defence, notably a couple from fullback Alex Jones as well as Ewan Cameron, James Dobson and Greg Robinson.

In the final minutes, Harry Wollaston was yellow carded for committing an offence at the breakdown and Yarnbury scored a consolation try with 2  minutes to go as the game petered out

Full Time Roundhegians 24 – Yarnbury 10

A good bonus point win for Hegians as they returned to the top of the league as Rishworthians were beaten away at Wath. In the 1^st half Hegians played good rugby and dominated the game to score 4 good tries but were disappointed with their lack of cohesion in the second half as they failed to add to the score.

Next Saturday is a big game as Hegians are away to 2^nd placed Rishworthians in a top of the table clash and Hegians will be hoping for a good performance for the full 80 minutes to maintain their position at the top of the league.  Kick off is 2.15pm and this should be a good game as the two best teams in the league compete for important points at the top of the league