Sandal home in on impressive win as Declan Thompson leads way with hat-trick

The Milnthorpe Green men produced an impressive performance to outplay their opposition in all aspects of the game and never looked in danger of being overhauled, writes Howard Newton.

Player of the match number eight Declan Thompson contributed much to the game by scoring a hat-trick of tries and had the support of the remaining players to give the side a satisfying result.

From the kick-off Sandal, playing against the slope, took advantage of having early possession and immediately moved into the visitors’ half, from where Will Henshall crossed in the corner.

Tom Hodson added the extras to give the home side a 7-0 lead after only two minutes.

Three minutes later Sandal gained possession on half-way, kicked ahead and appeared to touch down in a chase to the line, but a try was disallowed because in the approach a knock-on was considered to have occurred.

Undaunted, the home side continued to pressure their opposition, which resulted in two penalties being awarded, one of which was converted by Hodson to increase the lead to 10-0.

Then followed a 20-minute period when field positions were exchanged but scores by either side proved to be elusive until Hodson kicked his second penalty.

Much of the same followed for the remaining part of the half and it stayed 13-0 with Sandal more than satisfied with their first half performance.

From the resumption Sandal went on the offensive and surprised their opposition with a forward attacking move to give Declan Thompson the opportunity to touch down near the posts, enabling Hodson to easily convert to make it 20-0 two minutes into the half.

Heath came under more pressure and their defence cracked again when Declan Thompson broke from a scrum to score his second try and Hodson converted.

Heath hit back to score their first points as field position was secured in the home 22 to give their winger space to score an unconverted try.

After a period of stalemate Sandal responded when from a scrum just inside the Heath half Cam Allen weaved his way through the visitors’ defence to score a solo bonus point try under the posts. Hodson made no mistake in adding the conversion to extend the lead to 34-5.

The next score again came from Declan Thompson, his third try coming after some sloppy play by Heath in the 73rd minute. With Hodson posting his fifth successful conversion his side’s lead had moved to 41-5.

With full-time approaching there was no way back for Heath with the score remaining unchanged until the final whistle.

The victory lifted Sandal to third in the league and must have given the side confidence to overcome stronger sides in the weeks to come providing their excellent defensive work remains high. This Saturday they travel to Ilkley.