The Boars worked hard for this victory over their local rivals. The game was competitive well into the second half before the Boars racked up enough points to relax and play expansive rugby.

The game started with the Boars under pressure but a good kick from Brady Burdett gave a lineout 15 metres out which the Boars caught, controlled and drove a maul over the Uckfield line only for an unsighted referee to deny the try. The Boars then pressure the Uckfield line for the next 5 minutes without success against stout defence until Burdett faced with few options decided to try a drop goal. It sailed ‘Wilkinson like’ over the crossbar to cheers from the Boars.

Uckfield rallied for the next few minutes until the Boars managed to push up field where Uckfield gave away a penalty in front of the posts which Burdett duly kicked.
The rest of the half was nip and tuck with both sides having opportunities which they squandered A decisive blow was struck just before half time by Simon Hollingdale; Julian Wates chipped a ball into space behind the Uckfield defence and Twinkle Toes beat the full back to the ball, hacking the loose ball on and then winning the footrace to touch the ball down for a try. This brought the score to 11-0 at half time and with it the feeling that the next score could be crucial.

The Boars had a good team talk and came out fired up. From the kick off pressure was put on the Uckfield forwards and when the ball was released the Boars backs took over with Burdett making several of his trade mark sidesteps, making several Uckfield players looking like bairns, clutching at thin air before feeding full back Mike Barber who joined in on the overlap not only to score but to score between the posts where Duncan Hesketh converted. Further Boars pressure shortly afterwards led to a poor Uckfield clearance kick being caught by Mike Shallcross who then evaded several tackles during a jinking run that ended with him scoring between the posts and converting his own try.

Uckfield began to force the game at this point to try and avoid the whitewash that faced them. This tactic allowed the Boars to feed off any errors and counterattack whenever the opportunity arose. The best try of the match followed. Quick hands through the backs saw Hesketh put winger Jake Donnebaer in space, he evaded several tackles before popping the ball back to the supporting Hesketh, who then returned the favour, Donnebaer sped through the remaining defenders finally passing out of the last tackle to flanker Ian Schleider who made the final 10 metres to tap down between the posts for an easily converted try.

With their tails up the Boars played good rugby and Dave Cook broke several tackles to score off the base of a scrum. This was followed by a Burdett try, Julian Wates  taking a pop from Burdett broke through the defence on the half way line, after breaking several more tackles Wates passed to Dave Cook who in turn passed to the supporting Burdett to score.

with several Uckfield players looking like bairns as they collected dummies.

The final try was a solo effort by Donnebaer as he collected a loose Uckfield cross field kick on his own 22 and backed himself for pace to outstrip a worn out Uckfield defence.

The Boars next league match is against East Grinstead 3’s at Waldron on the 19th January and is likely to decide the destination of the division 3 league title.

Man of the Match was Chris Jones for an outstanding performance at hooker despite dislocating a thumb early in the match.

Boars Team – M. MacLeod, C. Jones, A. Sutton, P. Hookway, T. Rose, A. Farrell (S. Walker – 40), Ian Schleider (D. Bird – 60), J. Cannella (D. Cook – 40), L. Keylock, B. Burdett, J. Wates, D. Hesketh, S. Hollingdale (K. Davies – 65), M. Shallcross, M. Barber (J. Donnebaer – 45)

Match report by Mike MacLeod

1/7/2008 5:19:43 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)