Boars beat local rivals

The Boars went to local rivals Eastbourne aware that anything but a win would badly dent their title hopes. They were greeted by a cold bright day and a strong wind that would play a large part in the outcome of the game.

The Boars were to face the wind in the first half and it was hoped that the game could be kept tight until half time. The main duty fell to the forwards as the kicking game was no a great option in the wind and they did well without dominating. Much of the game was played between the 22 metre lines as few line breaks were achieved against solid defences.
After about 20 minutes the Boars broke through when a penalty was taken quickly and the ball spun right for Hollingdale to break the last tackler and score in the corner. Eastbourne were stung by this and started to kick for field position more. This pressure told when Heathfield tried to force a backs move, the ball went to ground and a Eastbourne centre was on hand to pick up and sprint 30 metres for the score. Eastbourne tails went up at this point and they had 15 minutes were they almost won the game. Only stout defence and their own poor decision making kept them out.

So the Boars turn around level and now get the advantage of the strengthening wind. The second half saw most of the action in the Eastbourne half with good kicks from Burdett and Woods pinning the Eastbourne forwards back. The good field position allowed the Boars backs to play a more adventurous game and this paid dividends when Burdett started and finished a blindside move that saw him link well with Woods to score in the left hand corner.
Burdett might have had a second try shortly afterwards but an unsighted ref had to give a 5 metre scrum instead. The Boars were well on top but it was clear that another score was needed to close out the game. This duly came from Hesketh with a trademark crash ball move through the centre (and through 3 tackles) to score to the right of the posts.
The game started to get scrappy (in both senses) and there was little good play before the ref blew the final whistle on a very good Boars performance.

Man of the Match was Kiwi Nick for non stop foraging and support play.

Boars Team – M. MacLeod (P. De Bruin – 55), T. Wates, A. Sutton, S. Walker (P. Hookway -45), T. Rose, K. Nick, K. Lewis, Jim Cumming, D. Rhodes, B. Burdett, J. Wates, A. Foster (D. Hesketh – 50), S. Hollingdale, SA (J. Henry – 65), R. Woods

Match report by Mike MacLeod

11/27/2007 8:36:46 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)