Under 15s match reports can now be found on the new H&W RFC Junior website. You can navigate to the new website by right clicking on the link below and opening in a new window, or new tab.

http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/handwrfc/

Junior teams will revert back to this website when it is re-launched at the start of the 2010 – 2011 season.

Heathfield U15   0       Vs.     27    Crawley U15

Heathfield hosted Crawley on a really wet, windy and cold Waldron pitch with 11 players away on county duties and playing an U14 (Max Cox who played with poise and distinction) at fullback due to lack of numbers.

Crawley kicked off using the famous Waldron slope and immediately started to take control. Heathfield fought gamely at every breakdown, every scrum and every lineout and had some good successes against a larger and better drilled Crawley side.

Crawley’s first try came after 10 minutes of fairly well contested rugby, of which territory was all Crawley’s. A break from their inside centre after a number of phases caught Heathfield napping and allowed him to slide through a poorly defended 10 / 12 channel for an unconverted try.

More game rucking and mauling from Heathfield kept the visitors in check for a while but Crawley were noticeably better at stripping the ball in the tackle and were getting to the breakdowns in greater numbers and more aggressively than Heathfield. Crawley scored their second try in similar fashion to their first. A number of good phases this time sent their outside centre skirting around the cover defence to score a very good (unconverted) try.

Their final try of the half again came from good driving and support play from Crawley but this try also went unconverted. The half-time whistle went which also saw the excellent Jamie Wardle coming off with a back injury.

Half Time: Heathfield down 15 – 0.

Heathfield had high expectations from this second half, with the wind and slope in their favour. They started out well with some good drives but Crawley were able to weather the storm without conceding any points. Crawley gradually took control again and scored a well worked try in the corner again after outstripping the cover defence.

Crawley’s final try again came from their quick outside centre who broke a depleted (down to 13 players at this point after George Bending and Loius Chavannes came off with injuries) Heathfield defence to score under the posts. This try was converted.

All credit to Heathfield though, from the re-start and with less than 5 minutes remaining on the clock, Heathfield drove with purpose and presented Crawley with their greatest test of the match. A number of attacks were held up on the try-line as Heathfield tried valiantly to breach the Crawley defence and it was with a mixture of great defending and luck that Heathfield were unable to break their duck. And so the game ended with Heathfield a little disappointed at not getting onto the scoreboard.

Crawley were undoubtedly the better side and justly deserved their win. Heathfield’s players however, played very well given the circumstances and will take a lot away from this match and progress from here.

Full Time: Heathfield lose 27 – 0.

PS:       Sussex ‘A’ (5 players from Heathfield) beat Middlesex ‘A’ 7 – 3.
            Sussex ‘B’ (5 players from Heathfield) beat Middlesex ‘B’ 17 – 5.

Heathfield U15   40     Vs.     0    Lewes U15

This was Heathfield U15’s penultimate league match of the season and was played on a cold and overcast afternoon at Heathfield’s 1sts pitch. Unfortunately, Lewes were unable to field a full side so that match started with both teams fielding a 7-man scrum.

Heathfield kicked-off and immediately set out their stall with a ruck turn-over. A series of close quarter drives linking forwards and backs ensued with the ball moving left, then right and back left again. From this ruck, the ball was moved swiftly left again to find Henry Jolliffe in open space. Henry performed the classic wingers “stop-and-go” to stand up his opposite number to allow him to score in the corner. Harry Reilly struck the ball beautifully to convert from wide out.

The re-start saw Heathfield control the ball with possession and territory. After 10 minutes, a scrum win against the head in the middle of the pitch and 2 phases of rucking saw the ball again moved wide to Henry who scored his second of the match in the same spot as the previous. Unfortunately the conversion just drifted wide this time.

Next came a perfect line from Fergus Diplock, one of many such breaks in this match, which saw him fend off 3 would be tackles to score another try in the same spot to the previous 2. Again this went unconverted as the ball came off the posts.

Travis Parsons scored the bonus point securing try next after some very good work from the forwards and some excellent ball skills from the backs. This was converted by Harry to leave the score 24 – 0.

From the re-start Greg Pearce stormed 40 metres upfield. The ball was recycled in close quarter drives to release the backs which saw Travis benefit again with a very tidy score in the opposite corner.

A number of changes were then made to the pack which destabilized its power and performance for the remainder of the half and this, which coincided in Lewes playing their best rugby of the match, meant that Heathfield were pinned in their own 22 having to defend manfully. This, to their credit they did very well which meant Heathfield ended the half still without having conceded a point in 3 consecutive league matches.

Half Time: Heathfield lead 29 – 0.

After a team talk at half time which highlighted the lack of drive, Heathfield played much better, cohesive rugby which kept Lewes working hard to contain them. After about 15 minutes of evenly contested scrums, rucks and mauls, Freddy Jones took a quick tap penalty in midfield and drove hard until tackled. He managed to flick the ball out to the supporting Alex Borg who cut an excellent line back towards the posts and just managed to dot the ball down with 3 would-be tacklers around him. Alex failed to convert his own try.

The final try came with about 10 minutes of the match left. A series of well-won rucks allowed Freddy to feed Fergus, now playing at fly-half, to make yet another searing break. Fergus drew the last man beautifully and fed Henry who easily had the pace to pull away from the covering defence to score a converted try taking the score to 41 – 0. It was agreed by the referee and coaches (at the behest of the players) to confirm a 40 – 0 league win but to continue playing to the final whistle.

The final 10 minutes required Heathfield to dig deep to prevent Lewes from scoring. The match was fairly evenly contested over this last period and Heathfield managed to get home without conceding a point.

Man of the match (although he lost the drinks race in the bar) was Fergus because of the number of searing breaks and cover defence throughout the whole match.

Full Time: Heathfield win 40 – 0.

Heathfield U15   35     Vs.     0    Brighton U15

Heathfield U15s travelled to Brighton’s Waterhall ground on a warm sunny Sunday, ready to resume their season which had stuttered to a halt with all the training and match cancellations over the past 6 weeks. Everything was set for another cracker match in this particular series!

Heathfield kicked off with the slight breeze available in their favour and immediately applied pressure on the Brighton pack. Brighton cleared their lines well but Heathfield were straight back at them. This was to be the general pattern of the half. The rucks and mauls in this match were as intense and aggressively contested as I have witnessed in junior matches but they were fairly contested and extremely well controlled by the referee. Heathfield had 6 “goes” at the Brighton line; each “go” comprising wave after wave of driving rucking and mauling linked with some excellent back play, but to the huge credit of the Brighton defence, they managed to thwart Heathfield on every occasion. The ball was held up on no less than 4 occasions!

The forwards must be commended in this half with some ferocious tackling from Jamie Wardle and Max Ellery; great ruck defending from Alex Borg and Lewis Golding and excellent support play and driving from Zack Llamas, Will Morris, Jasper Wrenn and Henry Ross.

So the half ended with no score but with Heathfield shading the territory and possession in what was a pulsating, excellent half of rugby.

Half Time: Heathfield lead 0 – 0.

The second half started with a bang for Heathfield. Receiving from the kick-off, some great rucking and recycling of the ball saw Heathfield move the ball back up the pitch. Heathfield again won some fantastic quick ruck ball, with Jasper again to the fore, and proceeded to spin the ball down the line. Henry R. found himself (as all good 2nd rows seem to!) in the wing slot and took the pass to score a juggled try in the corner. Harry failed to convert from wide out. This seemed to be just the fillip Heathfield required and they upped the tempo a notch or two. Again excellent back play saw Gareth Lloyd stopped just short of the line. A series of drives were again thwarted by some fantastic defending from Brighton but there was nothing they could do to stop Will eventually crashing over to go 10 – 0 up.

Heathfield suffered a double blow soon after with Lewis twisting his knee and coming off and more seriously, the excellent George Bending taking a blow to the neck. The match was moved to another pitch to allow the Paramadics to attend to George.

It would have been easy to lose concentration after that injury but Heathfield used it as a rallying call and upped their tempo yet again.

Zack scored a fantastic (converted) try close to the posts after some great work from the forwards, Fergus scored an absolute beauty from a penalty, spotting the gap and gliding through untouched and Henry Jolliffe scored an excellent try after some football juggling skills between him and Kieran Burdett (who got stuck in brilliantly at the base of the rucks) and running 75 metres to beat all the cover defence.

The tries were coming thick and fast now, so much so that no-one seems to know who scored the 6th try so we will call that a “TEAM” try as every player played an enormous part in the overall game.

Indeed, the Heathfield backs played very well as a unit today with Harry Reilly controlling the game astutely and Jack Koops oozing confidence from fullback. Indeed, this stable base in the back three helped to nullify any potential threat from Brighton. To cap it all Harry popped over a penalty to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

All in all, a good result for Heathfield and some excellent performances all round the pitch.

I’d like to also thank all the players (and their parents!) who did not get on today for their support and understanding. They will be starting against Westcombe Park next week so prepare youselves for another tough match!

Just heard that George is ok. Phew!

Also,,, more importantly… FERGUS your jersey is ripped!!!!! I’m going to have to do some stitching as well as the washing! (Actually, Sue is…… not me!)

Full Time: Heathfield win 35 – 0.

Heathfield U15   13     Vs.     15    Richmond U15

Heathfield U15s travelled to play Richmond in an eagerly awaited re-scheduled match. The squad travelled to Richmond via the scenic route and, after a 2 hour journey taking in the splendid sights of Kingston and much of Richmond suburbia, managed to arrive via the back entrance to the club!

On a chilly but dry day, Richmond kicked off with the wind at their backs and immediately applied good pressure in the Heathfield half. Only very good defending from Heathfield allowed them to weather this initial storm and to slowly exert a greater influence on the game with some excellent driving through the forwards. This resulted in Richmond giving away a penalty from a ruck 25m out but directly in front of their posts. Harry Reilly slotted the kick into the wind to give Heathfield a surprise 3 – 0 lead after 10 minutes.

Richmond came straight back at Heathfield from the kickoff and applied great pressure and an intensity of play that saw them almost score 5 minutes later. Excellent work and a line-break by Richmond was only just thwarted by Heathfield cover tacklers on their try-line. The subsequent scrum maintained the pressure but it was another 5 minutes before Richmond finally managed to breach the Heathfield defense to score an unconverted try in the corner to take the lead 5 – 3.

Credit to Heathfield as they then went on the attack and kept Richmond pinned in their own 22. A number of 5m scrums and lineouts failed to break the Richmond defense and finally Richmond managed to fly-hack the ball away from their in-goal area. The subsequent chase was won by the Richmond left wing who was then felled superbly by a George Bending tackle. The subsequent scrum saw Heathfield spin the ball wide to find Henry Jolliffe clear on the wing. Henry beat his man to score an unconverted try in the corner to re-take the lead 8 – 5 in this see-saw contest.

Heathfield maintained the pressure for the remainder of the half but in a moment of madness, failed to gather and control a hasty Richmond clearance properly and gave away a penalty just inside their own half. Richmond decided to take the kick, all of 37m out, to the amazement of everyone on the touchline. It was to be a brilliant decision as the kick sailed through the posts to end the half all square at 8 – 8.

Half Time: Heathfield draw 8 – 8.

Heathfield made a number of changes to start the 2nd half and, playing with the wind at their backs, immediately took the game to Richmond. After 5 minutes of constant pressure, Heathfield managed to release their backs, who drew and passed superbly, to release George Bending on the right wing 25m out. George beat his opposite wing on the outside but still had a cover defense streaming across to cut him off. All credit to George for maintaining his form in the sprint to the line which him just able to dot the ball down in the corner for an excellent unconverted try. The score now see-sawed again for Heathfield to take the lead 13 – 8.

Heathfield generally maintained a good amount of pressure for the remainder of the half with Fergus Diplock making 3 or 4 clean line-breaks and Heathfield creating a number of overlap chances which they failed to convert into points. After about 15 minutes, a Richmond break from half-way saw their inside centre clear the first line of defense and then win the subsequent sprint to the line for Richmond to again take the lead 15 – 13 with a converted try.

Heathfield again came back at Richmond, who defended very well, but despite territory and possession failed to get another score. So the match ended as a 15 – 13 loss to Heathfield but everyone was given game-time and all the players will have benefitted from playing in this kind of a tough away match. This match also allowed the coaches to try out a few new combinations on the pitch and also gave some players the experience of playing out of position with all the different pressures and nuances that entails.

Full Time: Heathfield lose 13 – 15.

Heathfield U15   19     Vs.     0    Worthing U15

This was Heathfield U15s fourth league match of the season away to a wet and windy Worthing. To be fair though, and considering the huge amounts of rain that fell during the week and overnight, the Worthing pitch was in great condition for this first league encounter as juniors between these 2 sides.

Heathfield kicked off and immediately applied pressure to a feisty Worthing pack. The ball was worked wide on a number of occasions with the Heathfield pack managing to retain much of the possession and re-cycle well. This pressure saw Heathfield pretty much camped near the Worthing 22m line and eventually led to a 5m lineout to Worthing. The ball was untidily won by Worthing which allowed the arch tackler Jasper Wrenn to steal the ball and get driven over for a great forwards try (attributed to Zach Llamas – Ed.) Harry Reilly just missed a difficult wide-out conversion into the wind.

The rest of the half saw similar phases of play from Heathfield with aggressive rucking from the Worthing forwards. Indeed, after about 20 minutes, the Worthing scrum half was a bit over-zealous and was sin-binned for stamping repeatedly on Kieran Burdett, his opposite number. Kieran was taken off after that in some pain.

A number of Heathfield efforts to score were turned down by the referee as being held up over the line. This has to be a lesson the Heathfield players need to learn… to get the ball TO THE BACK of a driving maul so that it is VISIBLE to the referee when it gets dotted down!!!

Late in the half, more quick ball was won by the forwards and Harry cross-field kicked for Henry Jolliffe who managed to gather, beat the last defender and score only for the referee to call it back for being in front of the kick. Ah well! Such fine lines.

Half Time: Heathfield lead 5 – 0.

Heathfield were now playing with the quite considerable wind behind their backs and with a number of changes in the forwards, proceeded to completely dominate the scrum and lineout. On a number of instances, the Worthing scrum went back at such a rate that Heathfield were in danger of being penalized for shoving more than 1.5m!

From this much improved platform, Heathfield launched wave after wave of attack at the Worthing defence. A number of knock-ons in sight of the try-line and pieces of bad luck meant that Heathfield had to wait until about 10 minutes into the half to register their next score.

From a penalty 10m from the Worthing try-line, Henry Ross took a quick tap and surged for the line only to be called back. From the re-taken tap, Jasper KICKED an ATROCIOUS cross-field kick that somehow landed in Fergus’s hands! (Jasper you owe 25 push-ups!!!) Fergus, recovering from shock, managed to half beat a player and get the ball to Gareth Lloyd running a brilliant line for him to score close to the posts. Harry Reilly converted.

A few minutes later and from another scrum win against the head, the ball was moved rapidly down the line. This time the passing was accurate and when Henry Jolliffe entered the line, the cover defence was in disarray and allowed Henry to score a well worked try. Harry also converted this.

Unfortunately, this was to be the last score of the game. Heathfield still maintained a stranglehold in most phases of the game and were held up on a couple more instances whilst over the line. On another day, some or all of these “failed” attempts would have led to scores. Sadly not for this match though! It now remains for the players to sort out the presentation and protection of the ball in a maul

Full Time: Heathfield win 19 – 0.

Heathfield U15   60     Vs.     0    Farnham U15

This was Heathfield U15s first away match of the season and it was hosted by the very hospitable Farnham rugby club (who do great bacon and sausage baguettes by the way!).

Heathfield fielded the kick-off from Farnham and, for the first 5 minutes, played between the 22m lines. Fanham’s no8 attempted to take the game to us and made initial progress, perhaps sensing that we had a number of players playing out of position! Heathfield managed to contain these early thrusts and managed to put a sequence of phases together which almost led to a try. Farnham managed to stop the move on their try-line but after a series of thrusts from Heathfield, Lewis Golding managed to drive over for a well earned first try. Harry Reilly converted this from wide out, this being the prelude to some excellent points from his boot during the match.

Then from a lineout on our 22m line, Lewis drove strongly to gain good ground. The ball was moved quickly wide resulting in a ruck on half-way. When the ball came out again, a wonderful dummy from Fergus Diplock saw him carve through the Farnham defence providing Gareth Lloyd with a straight forward run in.

Heathfield generally had the better of the play with excellent scrum wins against the head – Max Ellery won 5 against the head throughout the match – and lineout wins. Indeed, towards the end of the half a great win against the head allowed the backs to run the ball wide. Gareth broke the first tackle against him near the touchline and then proceeded to beat a further 5 tackles to score under the posts! Harry converted this to take us to a well earned half time lead.

Half Time: Heathfield lead 19 – 0.

Heathfield knew they had to work hard at the start of the 2nd half to quash any attempt of a fightback from Farnham. Heathfield managed this from the kick-off with some excellent back play and great support from the forwards taking them to the Farnham line. A knock on by Jasper in the act of scoring led to a scrum 5 for Farnham. Another great hook against the head saw the ball moved swiftly to Harry who stepped the cover defence to score close to the posts.

Another scrum in midfield saw Will Morris pick-up and go on the charge. When he was eventually brought down, the Heathfield forwards won quick ball and an excellent cross-field kick from Harry saw the ball stop in the in-goal area and a metre from touch. Henry Ross won the race to the ball for a well worked team try.

Yet another scrum in the middle of the pitch and near half-way, saw Will pick and go. He made a great arcing run that took him into the far corner for a great solo try.

With about 10 minutes left to play and Heathfield really playing some good tight rugby, Gareth again found himself with ball in hand and the try-line begging! This time from a little miss pass from Harry. Gareth outpaced the cover defence to score his third of the day!

Next, George Bending scored the best try of the day. Henry Ross took a fantastic one-handed take from a lineout and the ball went wide. Eventually, Henry was again on hand to receive the ball and popped a great one handed pass to Freddy Jones whose inside run took 3 tacklers to stop. Will picked up and carried on the move and linked with the backs. I say backs but there were also 3 forwards in the backline this time. The ball went through all the “backs” hands and left George with a nice little overlap to exploit! This he did with aplomb!

Finally, with about 2 minutes left to play, a scintillating run from Jack Koops saw him bundled into touch 5m from the Farnham try-line. The Farnham thrower, under immense pressure all match, over threw and the ball went straight to Will who burst through. No one was going to deny him his 2nd try of the day… and no one did!

As a note, Harry dropped a perfect goal from 30m out during this period to keep the scoreboard ticking (along with the other 4 conversions in the half!). He also dropped the ball from a simple pass! Tsk! Just can’t get the players anymore! And Jasper owes us 25 push-ups for kicking the ball!!!!!

A great win lads against a side that never stopped playing and battling away!

Full Time: Heathfield win 60 – 0.

Heathfield U15   40     Vs.     0    Pulborough U15

Heathfield U15s hosted Pulborough U15s on the main pitch at Cross-in-Hand for this re-arranged fixture on a morning of lashing rain and high gusting winds. The portents were not good as Heathfield had a number of late cry-offs for a game against dangerous opponents and were only able to field 20 players!

The match started with Heathfield receiving from the kick-off and playing with the wind and rain at their backs. From the kick-off Heathfield kept the ball tight as the conditions dictated, and drove hard and consistently into the Pulborough pack. Heathfield were able to do this and recycle the ball for multiple phases and, in the first ten minute period, relentlessly pounded the Pulborough defence. In the end, Heathfield scored from set-piece play in the middle of the pitch with Harry Reilly sending a delicate little grubber through for Henry Jolliffe to pick up and score. Harry converted superbly using the wind to draw in his kick, as good a kick as you will see at any level of rugby!

The remainder of the first half was played in the Pulborough half of the pitch with Heathfield in control of most phases of play. Heathfield came close to scoring a number of times in this half and a combination of some fine Pulborough tackling and mis-handling from Heathfield close to or over the line (often it has to be said due to the weight of tackle) left the scoreboard untroubled.

Finally though, Heathfield challenged a throw on the Pulborough 22m line and Will Morris managed to pick up the loose ball and crash over for his first score of the season. Harry Reilly bettered his previous kick at goal to land another from further out.

Half Time: Heathfield lead 14 – 0.

Fourteen points up and now into the wind and rain! Personally, I didn’t feel we had taken advantage of our overall superiority by putting points on the board and that might come to haunt us later in the match.

Thankfully, that feeling was to be proved wrong as Heathfield increased the tempo and intensity of their game. From another scrappy Pulborough lineout, Heathfield mauled the ball 15m upfield and when it finally broke down Alex Borg took the ball on and linked beautifully with Max Ellery who looked like he was going to make the line. A brave tackle from Pulborough stopped him 5m short but a little pop to the supporting Will Morris saw Will burst through to score close to the posts.

Heathfield’s support play between both backs and forwards was now at their best levels of the season. Fergus Diplock scored from just such support play not allowing  Pulborough to re-organise their defence. Fergus supported play beautifully to pick up loose ball and score another try close to the post.

Heathfield’s next try was easily their best of the season. Superb interplay between the backs and forwards combined with ferocious rucking to recycle the ball through a number of phases, eventually saw the excellent Greg Pearce on a charge upfield. Just as he was being brought down some fantastic support from Max, Alex and Henry Ross saw the ball fed to Gareth Lloyd to score.

That feat was to be bettered minutes later when the ball was fed down the line after more great work from the forwards. George Bending cut back inside and linked with Henry Ross and Fergus who broke through again to beat the cover defence to the line. However, the final Pulborough tackler forced Fergus to turn the wrong way and he failed to ground the ball. Now that really was a shame!

Finally though, strong defence from a resurgent Pulborough side who never gave up on the match, saw them spill the ball on the half-way line. Gareth picked the ball off the ground at full pace which just gave him the edge in the race to the line for him to score his second under the posts.

And so to the plaudits for the day. Harry ended up converting 5 of the 6 tries scored today. An excellent performance given the atrocious conditions! On a similar note, our lineout functioned superbly with Max hitting his jumpers throughout the match. Other mentions must go to Conor and Alex - tireless today, Will – awesome, Greg – the loose play king, Jasper – absolutely everywhere, Zack – getter better and better, Kieran – some excellent decision making, Fergus and Gareth who are developing a brilliant partnership and finally our back three of George Bending, Jack Koops and Henry Jolliffe who are just beginning to show signs of working as a unit. I think that’s everyone! However, if a man of the match were to be awarded, it would have to go to Henry Ross playing out of position on the blind-side for his all-round excellence!

Full Time: Heathfield win 40 – 0.

Heathfield U15   36     Vs.     24    Medway U15

Heathfield U15s hosted Medway U15s at Waldron on a bright and warm Sunday morning. The squad turned up in good time (except Fergus!) and proceeded with a vigorous pre-match warm up as they knew they had to again up their level of play to match Medway, the only friendly loss of last season!

The match started with Heathfield playing down the famous Waldron slope and they took the play to Medway. After 5 minutes, an excellent break from Fergus Diplock sent George Bending steaming for the line. An excellent Medway cover tackle stopped George inches from the line but fantastic support from Zack Llamas saw him pick up and drive over for the first try of the day. Harry Reilly converted to take the score to a well-earned 7 – 0.

Medway replied immediately and pinned Heathfield in their own 22 and after some excellent play, saw them score an unconverted try in the corner.

It was then Heathfields turn to try to take control of the game. Some well contested play between the 22s followed with Medway eventually giving away a kickable penalty that Harry easily slotted.

Then the Heathfield U15 “illness” hit us again! A kick through from Medway was allowed to bounce by the backs and it was from there that Medway were again able to score an unconverted try to level the scores.

The rest of the half was a real ding-dong affair with each side playing some good and exciting attacking rugby with some excellent defence preventing further scoring. Of particular note was Fergus and George in the centres and Jack Koops on the wing whose tackling in this period was outstanding!

Half Time: Heathfield draw 10 – 10.

Heathfield were playing up the slope in the second half and knew they had a lot of work to do. Medway kicked off but the ball was well controlled and re-cycled by Heathfield. After a few minutes of steady progress up the pitch, Heathfield managed to win quick ball from a ruck 30 meters out and used the backs intelligently drawing and passing before contact. The ball eventually reached Henry Jolliffe on the wing who managed to beat his man to the corner to score.

Medway struck back immediately and from the kick-off scored when Heathfield failed to control the ball, allowing it to bounce – AGAIN! Medway were able to gather the ball and force a 5 meter scrum from which they scored a converted try to take the lead for the first time in the match.

It was at this point that Gareth Lloyd, who came on at half-time, came to the fore. Heathfield managed to put together some excellent phased play and were gaining dominance in both the loose and at scrums. A penalty to Heathfield on the half-way line was run and led to Henry Ross being held up over the line. From the resulting 5 meter scrum, the ball was spun out allowing Gareth to pick a sublime line to take the ball on the burst and score a converted try close to the posts to take Heathfield back into the lead again.

A similar move close to the Medway line again saw Gareth pick an excellent line that allowed him to repeat his score close to the posts. And finally, just to prove that this was his new attacking principle, Gareth repeated the line and pace of his previous 2 tries to score a third under the posts. This took the score to 36 – 17 and sealed the game for Heathfield.

Medway however, had a different view. They continued to attack and play some attractive rugby and, with an extra man on the field after Jasper was sin binned for 10 minutes, scored another converted try to take the score to 36 – 24.

This was an exciting game of rugbyand displayed a high level of skill and commitment by both teams with Heathfield ending up on the right side of a nine try extravaganza!

Full Time: Heathfield win 36 – 24.

Heathfield U15   10     Vs.     5    Hove U15

This Sunday saw Heathfield U15s first league match of the season, against Hove. This, for Heathfield, was an eminently losable match against a team we just beat in the league last season. This season’s match was to be no different!

Heathfield kicked-off minus the services of Jamie Wardle (broken finger) and Kieran Burdett (ill) and from the outset were under pressure from a fired-up Hove side. Heathfield lost all the early exchanges and spent the first 10 minutes in their own half. Perversely though, it was from rare stolen ball by Heathfield that Hove put the first points on the board!
Jasper Wrenn managed to steal the ball from a maul and gained good yards. However a lack of support meant the ball was immediately turned over by Hove who launched a counter by kicking through. The ball was (again!) allowed to bounce with a posse of Hove players giving chase. Hove won the ball and were able to score an unconverted try fairly easily in the corner.

Some stern words from the captain, and the shock of conceding the try was exactly what Heathfield needed to up their game. Over the next 10 minutes, Heathfield’s forwards steadily gained control of the game and, with Hove conceding a number of penalties, were able to play in the Hove half. Indeed, it was from a penalty for a high tackle that Harry Reilly kicked a penalty to take the score to 5 – 3 to Hove. Heathfield ended the half strongly although they were down on the scoreboard.

Half Time: Heathfield down 5 – 3.

The second half was a tight and tense affair with the Heathfield forwards dominating the breakdowns but the Hove backs making inroads every time they got the ball. Heathfield’s scrum worked particularly well today with the bonus of some good exchanges at the breakdown. This, allied to some fine aggressive play from the centres, meant that Heathfield were always “just one pass away” from making a decisive break. Indeed, some excellent phased play saw Heathfield launch a strong attack on the Hove line. A penalty 10m from the posts was tapped (why? WHY?!!!) with the ball eventually going into touch. A couple of lineouts and scrums followed with Hove absorbing a huge amount of pressure but eventually, Heathfield were able to release their backs to score a converted try under the posts by Henry Jolliffe through a well worked move. Henry was unfortunately injured in the process of scoring and would take no further part in the game.

Hove were now chasing the game at 10 – 5 down but Heathfield managed to retain their shape and frustrate their opponents. It was from a high tackle by Harry Reilly near the half-way line that an impetuous Hove player was sent off. The referee blew for the high tackle and there was a minor scuffle between Harry and the tackled Hove player. Nothing other than handbags! However, another Hove player came running in from 5 or 6 m away and threw a haymaker at Harry which fortunately missed. The referee had no option but to send him off and reverse the penalty.

Heathfield now had the game by the scruff of the neck but credit to Hove, they still played with great vigour and could still have scored but for some great defensive work by the centres Gareth and Fergus.

So, a league win for Heathfield with the players raising their game from the previous match, against a Hove side that could, with a bit of luck, be challenging for honours at the end of the season. Heathfield still have a way to go though to be playing at the level they left off last season and there is much to work on over the next few weeks.

Well played everyone in what was a thoroughly entertaining match. No more like that please as the old ticker was worked very hard!

Full Time: Heathfield win 10 – 5.

Heathfield U15   37     Vs.     7    Eastbourne U15

This was the opening match of the U15 season away to Eastbourne on an overcast and warm morning. The squad arrived in good spirits and eager to get the season cracking after an extended pre-season.

Heathfield kicked off the half and immediately applied pressure on the Eastbourne defense. Good phased play saw a number of half breaks through the backs and with continuity supplied by the forwards, this allow Gareth to break through and score after 5 minutes. Alex was heavily involved in the second try with a couple of surging runs, the last of which saw him pop a pass to Henry J. with players to beat. Henry was able to step and jink his way to the line to score another unconverted try.
An injury to Travis meant a slight re-jig with Henry R. fancying a try-out at inside centre.
After a period of midfield play, Eastbourne won a couple of breakdowns and forced Heathfield to infringe near their 10m line. Eastbourne failed to find touch from the penalty which resulted in a sweeping move initiated 10m from the Heathfield try-line. Great hands from the backs and some direct running saw the next breakdown on the halfway line. Henry R. received the ball on the burst and made good yards with a final pop pass to Gareth to score his second try (unconverted) of the match.

Half Time: Heathfield lead 15 – 0.

The second half started in a similar vein with Heathfield applying good pressure and Eastbourne doggedly defending. A DSP in the backs from a scrum 15m out eventually led to Alex getting the ball going blind. He managed to force his way over the line for the first (and only) converted try of the match.
Another good move from Heathfield saw the ball moving down the line on the right for Jack who did an excellent job going to ground and keeping the ball in play. Quick re-cycling saw the ball moved the other way and, with a number of forwards in the backline, provided an overlap for George to exploit and beat a couple of covering players to score near the corner.
More pressure from Heathfield saw the ball held up over the Eastbourne try-line. From the resultant 5m scrum Harry dummied a called move and stepped inside the cover defense to score.
For the final try, Harry drew the defense with another break and popped an excellent inside ball to Freddy who still had to beat a number of players to score.

Eastbourne scored a converted try with little time remaining after a kick through was not cleanly taken by the defending Heathfield backs. Allowing the ball to bounce from a kick is never a good thing to do and so it proved again when the Eastbourne player following up the kick got a good bounce and with momentum in his favour was able to score unopposed under the posts.

So, first game over. Many good things to be taken from this match – handling, support play, rucking (at times), breaks and half-breaks and that we were able to give everyone a game. However, this was a very rusty and tired performance from the squad with a number of factors – a late night carnival the night before, 4 matches in 8 days for a number of players and a tour fund raising 5K run in Rye on Friday evening for most of the squad – to be taken into consideration as well. It has also shown that we need to raise our level of play by at least another 50% if we are to be competitive in the league this season.

Finally, just had word that Travis was taken to hospital and has broken a bone in his hip and will be out for a number of weeks. Our best wishes for a speedy recovery to Travis. Hopefully, he may be back to play against some old team mates when we play Richmond in a few weeks time.

Full Time: Heathfield win 37 – 7.