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Heaton Moor 48 - Leigh 23
David Todd12 Nov - 12:51
Entertaining game
Yet another side who Moor had not played against for a number of years were the opposition at Green Lane last Saturday. This time it was Leigh, with the last league meeting between the sides being fourteen years before. The visitors had a youthful look to their line-up and with a third of Moor’s squad being made up of Colts from within the last three years or so, it promised to be a fast, free-flowing game. This it proved to be, with the hosts pulling away in the second half to record their fourth bonus-point win on the trot.
As it was Remembrance weekend, both sides lined up and observed a two-minute silence before the start of the game and Moor and were then on the scoreboard within four minutes, as Leigh knocked-on and were then penalised twice in quick succession when they received the kick-off. This allowed Moor to kick to touch following both infringements and from the final line-out, the ball was passed between forwards and backs, before being switched inside to centre Sam Firth who eluded the cover to touchdown, converted by full-back Martin Shelley. Apart from one brief encroachment by the visitors into the Moor 22, the home side spent the next ten minutes on the attack and were rewarded for this pressure when Shelley kicked a penalty from some twenty metres out. Following the restart, it was Leigh’s turn to open their account when Moor lost their own line-out and were then penalised, allowing the former to kick a long-range goal from the latter’s 10-metre line. Back came Moor and within a couple of minutes had increased their lead when the ball was shipped along the three-quarter line, ending with left-winger Myles Maclagan looping around to take the final pass and score an unconverted try in the right-hand corner. Soon afterwards, Leigh’s task appeared to become more difficult when they had a player sin-binned for a high tackle, but actually made light work of this when they set up a drive and took the ball deep into Moor’s territory. Recycling the ball first one way and then the other, followed by a delicate chip over the top, led to their opening try, followed by a conversion. Moor immediately responded when a clearance kick by Leigh was collected off his toes by Maclagan inside his own half, and although it looked as if he might have just nudged the ball forward, the referee, who was nearest to the scene, allowed play to continue and he proceeded to jink his way through the defenders, riding a couple of half-hearted tackles to touch down for his second try, which was converted from the touchline by replacement centre Danny Fitzsimons. From the restart, Moor were penalised, allowing Leigh to kick their second penalty goal and with a couple of minutes to go before the break, added another penalty to their tally, making the half-time score 22-16 to Moor.
Within ten minutes of the commencement of the second half, Moor had scored two further tries. The first came after Moor gained some twenty metres from a driving maul and earned a penalty, which they kicked to touch. On winning the ensuing line-out they set up another maul and took play to the try line and although this was held up, Leigh had a player yellow-carded and from the resultant penalty, Moor elected to take a scrum on the 5-metre line. They then proceeded to push the opposition pack back, allowing evergreen No. 8 Jimmy Hine to pick up and score; the conversion going just wide. Making use of the man-advantage, Moor then scored the second a few minutes later as their forwards set up another rolling maul, before releasing the ball along their three-quarter line, allowing fly-half Mike Ingham to burst through and touch down, followed by a Fitzsimons conversion. Ten minutes later, they effectively put the contest to bed when the visitors lost the ball in a rare attack in the host’s 22, enabling Maclagan to recover it and sprint some sixty metres down the pitch and when finally halted, Shelley was up in support to collect the pass and run in to score, again converted any Fitzsimons. With still over ten minutes to play, Moor scored their seventh and final try after being awarded three penalties in quick succession, which took play to some five metres short of the Leigh try-line. Unsurprisingly, after the last transgression, they elected to take a scrum and on winning it, the ball was fed along the three-quarter line and then back inside for back-row Roman Elliott to take the final pass to score, converted by Fitzsimons. Shortly afterwards, tempers became a bit frayed, resulting in each side having a player sin-binned, followed a few minutes later by another yellow card for a Moor player, allowing Leigh to have the final say when they scored their second converted try of the afternoon, which brought proceedings to a close with a 48-23 victory for Moor. All-in-all, this was an enjoyable, open game, which was played in good spirit by all concerned.
In common with other teams in their division, Moor do not have a fixture this Saturday, but are away at newly-promoted Garstang the following week, 22nd November - k.o. 2:15pm.
As it was Remembrance weekend, both sides lined up and observed a two-minute silence before the start of the game and Moor and were then on the scoreboard within four minutes, as Leigh knocked-on and were then penalised twice in quick succession when they received the kick-off. This allowed Moor to kick to touch following both infringements and from the final line-out, the ball was passed between forwards and backs, before being switched inside to centre Sam Firth who eluded the cover to touchdown, converted by full-back Martin Shelley. Apart from one brief encroachment by the visitors into the Moor 22, the home side spent the next ten minutes on the attack and were rewarded for this pressure when Shelley kicked a penalty from some twenty metres out. Following the restart, it was Leigh’s turn to open their account when Moor lost their own line-out and were then penalised, allowing the former to kick a long-range goal from the latter’s 10-metre line. Back came Moor and within a couple of minutes had increased their lead when the ball was shipped along the three-quarter line, ending with left-winger Myles Maclagan looping around to take the final pass and score an unconverted try in the right-hand corner. Soon afterwards, Leigh’s task appeared to become more difficult when they had a player sin-binned for a high tackle, but actually made light work of this when they set up a drive and took the ball deep into Moor’s territory. Recycling the ball first one way and then the other, followed by a delicate chip over the top, led to their opening try, followed by a conversion. Moor immediately responded when a clearance kick by Leigh was collected off his toes by Maclagan inside his own half, and although it looked as if he might have just nudged the ball forward, the referee, who was nearest to the scene, allowed play to continue and he proceeded to jink his way through the defenders, riding a couple of half-hearted tackles to touch down for his second try, which was converted from the touchline by replacement centre Danny Fitzsimons. From the restart, Moor were penalised, allowing Leigh to kick their second penalty goal and with a couple of minutes to go before the break, added another penalty to their tally, making the half-time score 22-16 to Moor.
Within ten minutes of the commencement of the second half, Moor had scored two further tries. The first came after Moor gained some twenty metres from a driving maul and earned a penalty, which they kicked to touch. On winning the ensuing line-out they set up another maul and took play to the try line and although this was held up, Leigh had a player yellow-carded and from the resultant penalty, Moor elected to take a scrum on the 5-metre line. They then proceeded to push the opposition pack back, allowing evergreen No. 8 Jimmy Hine to pick up and score; the conversion going just wide. Making use of the man-advantage, Moor then scored the second a few minutes later as their forwards set up another rolling maul, before releasing the ball along their three-quarter line, allowing fly-half Mike Ingham to burst through and touch down, followed by a Fitzsimons conversion. Ten minutes later, they effectively put the contest to bed when the visitors lost the ball in a rare attack in the host’s 22, enabling Maclagan to recover it and sprint some sixty metres down the pitch and when finally halted, Shelley was up in support to collect the pass and run in to score, again converted any Fitzsimons. With still over ten minutes to play, Moor scored their seventh and final try after being awarded three penalties in quick succession, which took play to some five metres short of the Leigh try-line. Unsurprisingly, after the last transgression, they elected to take a scrum and on winning it, the ball was fed along the three-quarter line and then back inside for back-row Roman Elliott to take the final pass to score, converted by Fitzsimons. Shortly afterwards, tempers became a bit frayed, resulting in each side having a player sin-binned, followed a few minutes later by another yellow card for a Moor player, allowing Leigh to have the final say when they scored their second converted try of the afternoon, which brought proceedings to a close with a 48-23 victory for Moor. All-in-all, this was an enjoyable, open game, which was played in good spirit by all concerned.
In common with other teams in their division, Moor do not have a fixture this Saturday, but are away at newly-promoted Garstang the following week, 22nd November - k.o. 2:15pm.
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