Heworth 6 vs 42 Hunslet. NCL Premier Division round 9. Saturday 16.5.26.

In The National Premier League Heworth suffered a 42-6 defeat at the hands of second placed championship contenders Hunslet ARLFC. For the second successive week the below strength Villagers refused to lie down and showed tremendous battling qualities but the more experienced visitors simply possessed too much pace and power which produced seven tries to seal a comprehensive victory. 

The South Leeds outfit made a blistering start after capitalising on a number of early unforced Heworth errors to post three tries in the opening seventeen minutes for Tyler Dargan, Jordan Gale and Alfie Goddard all of which were converted by Gale to put them 18-0 ahead. The Villagers though were undeterred and showed some impressive attacking handling of their own but their opponents solid goal line defence negated the threat and it wasn't until two minutes from the break that the visitors increased their advantage after Junior Rowse crossed for their fourth touchdown which Gale improved for a 24-0 interval lead. 

Hunslet were quick out of the blocks at the start of the second period and with just two minutes on the clock went further ahead  with a try by Danny Sowerby goaled by Gale. The Black and Whites though showed their resilience and eleven minutes later they managed to create some good field position which led to second rower Ben Barnard muscling his way over from close range close to the posts for scrum half Jack Sadler to add the extras to make it 30-6. Their success was short lived though after the visitors responded immediately when a stray pass by the Villagers went to ground on halfway  and Dargan snapped up the loose ball to race away unopposed for his second touchdown. Gale slotted the two pointer to restore a thirty point lead. On 62 minutes Josh McClelland registered their final try and Gale completed a perfect afternoon with the boot to make the final score 42-6.

 Fraser West was voted Man of the match for the Villagers with Liam Richmond, Tino Mulase and Sadler also catching the eye. 

Heworth now take a two week break for the Bank Holiday and the Challenge Cup Final and are next in action on Saturday 6 June when they travel to Halifax to face Siddal.  

Match report- Dave Ward.