Sussex Rugby - Heathfield & Waldron RFC - Heathfield Boars 39 Hastings & Bexhill 3rds 12

	Saturday, October 07, 2006

Heathfield Boars 39 Hastings & Bexhill 3rds 12

Boars hit Hastings for Seven

The Boars fielded a strong side in this Sussex Salver round 2 match Julian Wates and Rory Burchett were added to the squad that beat Eastbourne 4’s the previous week. With a place in the quarter finals at stake (against the better of Shoreham 2’s or St Francis 2’s) it was anticipated that Hastings would be tough opponents.

The game kicked off in glorious sunshine and both teams showed positive intent with some good early backs moves. The initial set piece plays were keenly fought and went with the put in. A break on the Heathfield right looked dangerous as Adam Farrell chipped over his opposite number and advanced on the ball as it bounced about 10 metres out. About this time the Hastings full back collected the ball and it was clearly ‘game on’ as he beat Farrell for pace and took the ball back to the halfway line before being brought down. Time for plan B and the Boars forwards to seek control.

The Boars resolved to ‘pick and drive’ for a few phases before spinning it wide and this proved to be a very successful strategy leading to the first try after about 15 minutes. Two or three phases of play found the Boars 15 metres out in a central position and quick ball to Jim Cumming saw him break a couple of tackles to score between the posts. Guy Ellery slotted over the conversion to take the score to 7-0.

At this point in the game the Boars forwards began to get the better of their opponents in the set pieces. Hooker Jason La Roche started to win the Hastings put in or at least slow the Hastings possession down and Tony Rose began to win his battle in the line out. This often led to good field position and from one such set piece on the Hastings 22 converted scrum half Jack Bailey sprinted round a flat footed defence to score an unconverted try.

Heathfield were beginning to feel confident at this point but within 5 minutes Hastings reminded them that the game was by no means over. Hastings scored when the Heathfield backs scorned a chance to kick and clear their 22 metre line and instead decided to run it out. A pass went astray and the first to the loose ball was a Hastings centre who out paced the cover to score an unconverted try. The game was back on and many felt that the next score would be an important one.

The Boars forwards continued to give their backs room to work in by their driving play sucking in defenders. During one such passage of play 22 metres out a Hastings player gave away a penalty and the ref allowed Jack Bailey a quick tap and Jack was nimble and Jack was quick enough to score between the posts and allow Guy Ellery another successful conversion attempt. Even though half time was approaching the Boars had time to add another try through Jim Cumming who was so keen to meet his pre match promise of 3 tries that he popped up in the ‘outside’ outside centre position to crash over to take the score to 24-5 at half time.

The second half resumed in the same competitive fashion and Hastings tried to free their speedy backs by passing wide as fast as possible. This had limited success mainly due to the dominance of the Heathfield pack in the set pieces and the tireless work of Mike Brown in the loose play. This platform allowed Joe Henry to score his second try in two games when several phases of forward play was topped off with the backs passing the ball quickly out left to beat a stretched defence.

Hastings to their great credit never stopped trying and took advantage of some slack defending at a penalty to score, via their captain Paul Begg, a converted try. At 27-12 was this the start of a comeback?

Heathfield hit back with a candidate for try of the season when the ball was collected on their own 10 metre line recycled 6 or 7 times, gaining ground each time, before that man Jack Bailey took it the last few metres for a really beautiful score that seemed to seal the match. There was time for one final try when the Boars ran a ball from their 10 metre line and took it to the Hastings 10 metre line where Jack Bailey took a pass and ran a lovely line that took him through the centres before he stood the fullback up and just had the legs to take it over the try line. A missed conversion and 2 minutes of play were all there was left before a fine 39-12 victory could be celebrated.

Man of the match for the Boars was close between Mike Brown, Jim Cummings and Jack Bailey. The award went to Jack Bailey due to his all round performance (the 4 tries were just icing on the cake). The Boars also won the ‘man of the match’ drinking race but only just as the Boars habit of adding a pickled egg to the pint did not suit either contestant. Indeed Jack looked keen to return his egg to the outside world shortly after eating it.

Boars Team – Mike MacLeod (Andy Sutton – 78), Jason La Roche, Rory Burchett (Joe Geesin – 60), Ben Taylor, Tony Rose, Ian Schleider (Bob Togher – 45), Mike Brown, Jim Cumming, Jack Bailey, Brady Burdett (Mark Hassall – 65), Julian Wates, Duncan Hesketh, Adam Farrrell (Simon Hollingdale – 25), Joe Henry, Guy Ellery (Levi Willis – 60)

Report by Mike MacLeod

Henry tackles...

Is that Hassall?...

Levi? on the attack...

A successful lineout to Jack

The Boars
10/7/2006 9:40:52 AM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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