Heath struck by a Holt from the blue as Holbrook snatch victory

Despite a strong early showing and looking the better side for much of the first half, Holbrook were looking at a disappointing defeat with 10 minutes of the game left.

Skipper Paul Davey roused his side and kick started their recovery by scoring a vital try with five minutes left, the conversion by Holt tying the match at 10-10.

A resurgent Holbrook then took charge of the match and forced Heath errors with some strong scrummaging, until finally on the stroke of time they won a penalty under the Heath posts. Holt converted to rescue the game, save Holbrook’s blushes and consign Heath to an undeserved loss.

The game started well for Holbrook and despite an early easy penalty miss from Holt they looked strong. However, a lack of recent games and overeagerness causing them to fail to convert several try-scoring chances as their only reward in the first half was a Holt penalty.

Heath came out of the blocks like a different side in the second half and had Holbrook reeling as they attacked strongly, scoring a penalty and a converted try, courtesy of George Heron, in the first 20 minutes.

At this stage it looked bad for Holbrook as despite the sterling work of their back row, Dave Thomas, Simon Ley and Gavin Porter each of whom carried well and tackled bravely, Holbrook could not get into the match.

Coach Neil Bailey, with a last throw of the dice, made a couple of substitutions and positional changes that injected new life into the side and they began to claw their way back.

With five minutes left skipper Davey scored for Holt to level the scores, and with Holbrook now winning the key exchanges, a strong scrum was rewarded with a final penalty from Holt to leave Heath dejected.