Roundhegians

Bradford Salem 26- Roundhegians 10

After 18 months without a game, Hegians started their season in Yorkshire 1 with a tough away game at Bradford Salem. This is a place where Hegians have not had much luck over recent years but this time they were hoping to do better.

With a lot of players away on holiday still and a few at weddings, Hegians had a team which was a mixture of youth and experience and those making their debut in league rugby acquitted themselves well on the day.

From the kick off Hegians were immediately on the attack with winger Tom Bennett forcing a Salem player into touch, close to the opposition try line. After a knock on Hegians won the scrum and with a good backs move, they were able to put winger Tom Bennett into space, but on the narrow pitch the defence were able to scramble across and force him into touch. Hegians were able to put pressure on the defence and Ali Coe managed to get a turnover at the breakdown, however, the referee deemed him not to be the first player and penalised him. Unfortunately, Hegians argued with the referee, who gave another 10 metres.

Good defence from Michael Crabtree forced a knock on and kept Hegians on the attack, but they gave away another penalty, when Tom Bennett didn’t allow the player to get up. Further indiscipline at the following lineout, resulted in a yellow card for Ali Coe and this allowed Bradford  to produce a concerted period of pressure. Good defence from the 14 men of Hegians kept them out until they were back to 15 but eventually the pressure told and Salem got the try on 20 minutes after a series of drives close to the line.

For the next few minutes Hegians were under pressure as their line out struggled and they could not gain consistent territory until on 30 minutes, Bradford scored a second converted try to go up 14-0. In the last ten minutes of the half, Hegians managed to exert some pressure and go through the phases but they were met with some strong defence from the opposition and couldn’t quite get over the line before half time. A good 50-22 kick from Alfie Hewitt gave Hegians the lineout but their problems at the lineout meant they couldn’t take advantage and went into half time without a score.

Half time Bradford Salem 14 – Hegians 0

The second half got off to a disastrous start when, from the kick off, Hegians returned the ball to the opposition, only to allow them to score a try down the right hand side, thanks to some poor defending. At 19-0 down, things were not looking good for Hegians, but they rallied and started to force Bradford on to the backfoot as they were able to build up some continuity of possession, forcing the opposition to concede penalties. Hegians opted for a series of scrums and quick tap penalties, rather than lineouts and this meant that for the first time in the game, Hegians were on top. Eventually, after 53 minutes Alex Jones went over for a try as he outpaced the defence and then kicked the conversion, to reduce the deficit to 19-7.

BradFord were back on the attack after the kick off, but good defence from Hegians meant that they were able to turn over ball and get back up the field. At 60 minutes Hegians were awarded a penalty in front of the posts and Alex Jones took the points to reduce the deficit to just 9 points. For a few minutes it seemed possible that Hegians could score again and produce a remarkable comeback. However, Bradford rallied and a strong break through the middle led to a converted try and sealed the game for them on 70 minutes.

Hegians came back strongly in the last 10 minutes but by this time the game was lost and they were unable to  create another score. The final score was 26-10 to Bradford and that was probably a fair reflection of the game.

Hegians tried hard in their first game of the season but with a few players missing and the rustiness of not having played for so long meant that it was just too hard for them to get anything from the game. However, there were some promising performances from some of the younger players who never gave up over the full 80 minutes.

Next week we are at home against West Leeds and with some players back, Hegians will be hoping for a win.