White Hot Heath Run Riot in Leeds

By: Andy Houghton

Stanningley 6-50 Thatto Heath Crusaders

An almost perfect first 20 minutes saw a clinical Heath put the game to bed after racing into a 28-0 lead. With a host of regulars missing and the late withdrawal of Chris Frodsham with a bout of tonsillitis Paul Hatton was expecting a tough day at the office against a Stanningley side that had narrowly lost to table-toppers Saddleworth the week before.

A solid first set and good kick was backed up with a tough defensive set as a strong Dave Bates tackle forced a knock on. A couple of plays later the returning Shaun Quinn went over in the corner for the first of his hat-trick, he duly added the extras to extend the lead to six. The lead became twelve then eighteen in quick succession as first Dave Bates and then Jimmy Hitchmough benefitted from scintillating dummy half play from Keiron Maddocks who was quite simply too much for the home defence to handle.

Maddocks got over for one of his own before Quinn added his second as he capitalised on an error by the home winger who failed to field a simple kick. Quinn converted all but one of them and at 28-0 the result was already beyond doubt.

To their credit Stanningley never looked like they were going to roll over and came back strong to dominate the last ten minutes of the half, including a spell of four consecutive sets to finish the half. Heath’s defence though was more than resilient and despite the errors that led to it this period was one of the most pleasing to see from the coaching staff’s point of view.

The half time talk was focussed on defence with the goal for the second half to keep the Leeds outfit scoreless while continuing to be ruthless at the other end.

Shortly after the break Heath were left devastated by the loss of scrum-half Jimmy Hitchmough to an horrific facial injury (double fracture of the eye-socket and fractured cheekbone) as he went awkwardly into a tackle. Kenny Hughes replaced him and was lively as ever and when Maddocks was re-introduced following a breather it served as the catalyst to another scoring spree as first Quinn was in for his hat-trick try, before Stanningley got on the score sheet through their man mountain of a replacement prop Dave Jennings, Stuart Halliday added the extras to pull the score back to 34-6.

Normal service was soon resumed as the outstanding Andrew Stott went over for a converted effort before Dave Sutton and Darren Woods rounded the scoring off with impressive efforts. There was still time for Quinn to have a fourth brought back for a forward pass and then fumble another with the line at his mercy but that would have harsh on a Stanningley outfit who were very game but quite simply outclassed by a rampant Heath outfit.

This was close to being a complete team performance with the pack laying the foundations for Maddocks, Stott and Co. to sparkle with ball in hand. Glenn Holland, Andy Bailey and Carl Lamb led the way up front while back rowers Dave Bates, Alex Trumper and Ste Ward worked tirelessly in both defence and attack.

Keiron Maddocks scooped both the Hattons Solicitors and Spectators Man of the Match awards for a quite stunning all around display.

A step up in the class of the opposition next week means that the Crusaders will all need to be on top of their game. The game against table toppers Saddleworth promises to be a classic so get down to Close Street for the 2pm kick off.

All the best to Jimmy Hitch in his recovery from another shocking injury.

 

Stanningley

1. Frank Mayfield

2. Stuart Halliday

3. Steve McGeachie

4. Liam Chadwick

5. Simon Wray

6. Scott Hargreaves

7. Anthony Glynn

8. Mark Doogan

9. Stuart McGill

10. Tom Dobson

11. Paul Robinson

12. Ben Smith

13. Eddie Norfolk

14. Simon Bowker

15. David Jennings

16. Danny Berrell

17. Alex White

 

Thatto Heath Crusaders

1. Shaun Quinn

2. Dave Sutton

3. Darren Woods

4. Matty Bell

5. Adam Walsh

6. Andrew Stott

7. Jimmy Hitchmough

8. Andy Bailey

9. Keiron Maddocks

10. Glenn Holland

11. Ste Ward

12. Alex Trumper

13. Dave Bates

14. Kenny Hughes

15. Carl Lamb

16. Scott Clarke

17. Karl Sandford

 

Stanningley

Tries: Dave Jennings

Goals: Stuart Halliday

 

Thatto Heath Crusaders

Tries: Shaun Quinn (3), Dave Bates, Jimmy Hitchmough, Keiron Maddocks, Andrew Stott, Dave Sutton, Darren Woods

Goals: Shaun Quinn (7 from 9)

 

Local Photographer Gary Coyle was at the game and his pictures can be found on his website www.barla.fotopic.net/c1791644.html

 

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