Rampant Brods crush Moortown
by Gordon Feather
Saturday’s visitors to Woodhead were Moortown, in a game which would have an important bearing on the final play-off contenders for promotion from Regional North East Two. A large and expectant crowd gathered in cold and dry conditions after enjoying a sumptuous lunch and being entertained by popular comic Gary Marshall.

The visitors kicked off up the slope and the Brods gathered well to put together a number of phases with expansive play before being penalised some 5 metres out from the Moortown line. This gave considerable encouragement to the home fans who had recently become accustomed to a slow start. However, this exciting cameo was not to last and for the next 20 minutes the visitors had all the possession and favourable refereeing decisions. But the Brods’ defence was up to everything that Moortown, impressive as they appeared, could throw at them.

Eventually a penalty was awarded to the Brods in their own half and Kelly found touch some 30 meters from the visitors’ line. Captain Craven orchestrated the catch and drive towards the line to be halted some 15 metres short, but the ball was quickly spread across the back line where classy centre Doug Hesletine pierced the visitor’s defence to score a fine try. Conversion missed but 5-0 to the Brods after 22 minutes played and the Brods were on the scoreboard after their first attack since the opening minutes

It was now Brods turn to put pressure on and after a period of line outs and scrums in the visitor’s territory the young Brods wing, the mercurial Kemp, scampered over from a short-range scrum in the bottom left-hand corner. Again, the conversion was missed but the Brods were now 10-0 ahead after 25 minutes played and in complete control. From the resulting kick off the Brods immediately increased their lead with Hodkinson kicking downfield and Ben Barron collecting 40 metres out to burn off the visiting defence and score a spectacular try. On this occasion Josh Kelly converted the try drawing ironic cheers from the stand.17-0 to the Brods.

The Brods continued their scoring spree at the next kick off where the ref adjudged the restart had not travelled far enough into the Brods half. Kelly’s penalty took play to the visitors’ 22 and from the line out the ball travelled across the line where full back Slattery broke to score a further and bonus point fourth try. Although the extras were missed after 32 minutes the Brods were 22-0 ahead with 4 tries having been scored in 10 minutes.
Once again Moortown restarted and immediately a Brods’ infringement gave the visitors a penalty. Surprisingly the visitors elected to take a shot at goal and the penalty was sweetly struck to put points on the board. 22-3 to the home side with 6 minutes left of the first half to play. For the rest of the half Moortown attacked and had some success in that they forced a sin binning of influential Brods’ lock Cal Hesletine for what appeared to be entering a maul from the side. Feisty attacking play ensued and both Ben Barron and a Moortown opponent were carded for a handbag’s incident. However, a penalty was awarded to Moortown who spread the ball across the back line and taking advantage of the numerical player advantage scored out wide, the conversion taking the score to 22-10 on half time.
With the visitors to play downhill all was to play for in the second half, with the visitors very much in it and confident of winning the game despite conceding 4 first half tries.

The second half began with a long kick to the Brods 22, which the Brods fielded and drove up field. The Brods forwards were more than holding their own against the visitors. Particularly the rugged Alex Murphy was outstanding and making good metres on each carry as were Elliott Craven, Ryan Harris and Curtis Taylor. Also, at the line as well as winning their own balls the Brods were nicking more than a few of the Moortown line outs. But for the first 20 minutes of the second half the Brods were under the cosh and penned in their own half. On 58 minutes Moortown were awarded a penalty some 40 metres out but their reliable number 10 missed with his kick. On 60 minutes home lock Murphy was yellow carded for a fairly innocuous looking infringement and at this stage the pressure was on. Following the ensuing penalty kick to the Brods 22 the visitors drove the maul for the line and scored, the home side being short of weight and numbers after the Murphy card. Surprisingly the conversion was missed but with the score now 22-15 after 62 minutes and the home side short of a key forward, the visitors were in the ascendancy.
Adopting an ‘attack is the best form of defence’ attitude, on 65 minutes Harry Dunne made the first foray of the second half into Moortown territory and fast recycling with Aussie newcomer, Luke Browne, prominent, saw the marauding Doug Hesletine dive over for his second try of the game. Josh Kelly stepped up and converted the try taking the score to a much safer 29-15 with a little over 10 minutes to go.

At this point it seemed that Moortown had lost some heart as Brods continued to attack and a Kelly kick to the top right hand corner saw a Brods line where Alex Murphy, back to the field of play from his enforced rest, powered over for another try on 77 minutes which Kelly duly obliged with the extras. At 36-15 the game was now safe. But the Brods were not yet finished with the scoring and there was still time for hard working prop, Joe Sealey, to score in the top left hand corner, bouncing off a couple of opponents en route to scoring an individual try. Final score 41-15.

Despite the flattering winning scoreline this victory was not a cakewalk. But this was a statement victory against one of the leagues form teams. To score 7 tries is testament to Brods’ clinical finishing especially as the visitors had at least an equal amount of possession and Moortown’s tries came only when Brods had a man down sin binned. Brods were outstanding in both attack and defence. The victory will not have gone unnoticed by the other promotion contenders.

Gordon Feather - 8 March 26