Sussex Rugby - Heathfield & Waldron RFC - Crowborough 2nd's 0 Heathfield Boars 17

	Saturday, November 18, 2006

Crowborough 2nd's 0 Heathfield Boars 17

Boars reach Salver Final

The Boars reached the final of the Sussex salver competition by overpowering a speedy Crowborough 2’s side in an excellent game of rugby. It was a game of two styles and each team had the opportunity to win but it seemed as if the Boars had more belief and desire.

The teams came out on a cold bright afternoon with very little wind and were welcomed by a sizable crowd. From the Heathfield kick off Crowborough suffered the first of several injuries when their number 3 took a blow to the head and had to be replaced. At the scrum that followed it was clear that the Boars could dominate this phase of the game.

Another key psychological moment in a match is the first contact with your opposite number and Julian Wates ensured that his opponent (and all his team mates) knew what lay ahead when he cut dead the first Crowborough attack with a thunderous tackle on his opposite centre. The crunching impact was audible and the Heathfield supporters loved it.

So the game began to take shape with the Boars making use of their forwards and Crowborough trying to play an expansive game. The Boars tactics were working better and this paid off after 20 minutes when Jim Cumming broke from the Crowborough 10 metre line and reach the 22 before being brought down. The Boars reached the ball quickly and drove to the 5 metre line before being stopped again. Tony Rose grasped the ball and twisted right which drew the last defenders to him before the ball was popped to Brady Burdett to score between the posts for a try converted by Kenny Lewis.

MacLeod caught the restart kick and popped a lovely ball to Cook who carried for 20 metres to put the pressure back on Crowborough. Within 5 minutes Heathfield gained their second score when La Roche gained a crucial hook against the head on the Crowborough 5 metre line. The Boars scrum made forward progress and the Boars number 8, Dave Cook, timed his pick up and drive perfectly to score. Lewis missed the difficult conversion attempt.

The Boars had most of the territorial advantage but could not add to their score so it remained 12-0 at half time.

Crowborough must have had a positive half time team talk as they came out a much more determined and organised side. For the best part of 30 minutes Crowborough camped in the boars half and tried to prise open the Boars defence. They tried left then right and through the middle without making a serious breach thanks to excellent work by every single Boar. Several of the older Boars were starting to show signs of fatigue and were substituted.

The game was still in the balance but time was running out when the Boars killed the game with a breakaway try. Heathfield had reached the halfway line and were trying to stay there when Adam Farrell spotted the Crowborough winger had pushed up too far and put a grubber kick through to the 22 for Boars winger Simon "twinkle toes" Hollingdale to chase and show why he is the Boars top scorer. Hollingdale chose to kick on and won the race to ground the ball before it went dead. This proved to be the last meaningful action of the game and the Boars began to celebrate.

Man of the match went to the oldest Boar, Mike MacLeod, for his all round performance.

Boars Team – M. MacLeod (B. Togher – 70), J. La Roche, J. Geesin (R. Burchett – 50), J. Cumming, T. Rose, J. Parsons (M. Brown - 50), K. Lewis (B. Taylor – 60), D. Cook, J. Bayley, B. Burdett, J. Wates, D. Hesketh (M. McDonald – 60), A. Farrrell, S. Hollingdale, D. Rhodes (R. Such – 70) sub not used M. Barber

Report by Mike MacLeod

The Boars
11/18/2006 10:20:33 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

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