Batley Boys U12s 48-8 Heworth

Batley Boys U12s got back to winning ways with a morale boosting 48-8 win over Heworth at the weekend.

Heworth travelled from York with 14 players, and Batley were only able to field 15 due to injuries and other commitments so it was clear both teams would need to cope with the warm weather as well as each other to come out on top. Batley kicked the game off and knew they were in for a tough match from the start as Heworth ran the ball hard and in fact had the better of the opening few minutes. It was Batley though who opened the scoring with a typical run from Kyle Foley who continues his good form. Opposition man of the match Jack Broadbent was next over with a scramble to the line before Foley scored again to leave Heworth reeling. Heworth looked to get back into the game but superb tackling from most improved Owen West, Harry Brearey, Paul Scott and Dylan Hodgson kept out Heworth. A new forward pairing of Man of the match Dylan Aspinall and Josh Ward, who had his best game yet in a Batley shirt, tore into Heworth with Kyle Render dictating from hooker and a fine first half was capped by Foley completing his hat-trick to leave the score at 24-0.

With the forwards having taken the plaudits in the first half it was the turn of the backs to shine in the second. Winger and centre pairing Harry Foster and Joe Hyland made good in-roads before Foley crossed again. After a neat inside ball from James Smith and a run from Luke Slack nearly brought the try of the match Smith aimed a cross field kick into the arms of Broadbent who completed his double. Batley were now playing the sort of rugby that has been missing over the last two weeks and good support play from top tackler Liam Rush saw him gain a well deserved try, Rush then completed his own double with a neat dummy. Josh Scrutton was able to convert to make it 8 out of 8 for him to cap a fine game for the reliable full-back who deservedly won spectators man of the match. With the score at 48-0 and 10 minutes left it would have been easy for Heworth to give up and let the score run away but they showed great resolve to score twice before the final whistle and give glimpses of how difficut it will be in the return fixture, leaving the final score 48-8.