Heathfield 3rd’s returned to winning ways on Saturday with an away trip against Hove 5ths. The previous week had seen a sluggish and disappointing loss away to a very strong Hastings side but in greenies second game of the New Year, some more intense and faster paced rugby secured (in the end) a comfortable win.
Heathfield played up the slope in the first half and started brightly against a much larger Hove pack. It was clear from the start that Hove would want to keep it tight and use there considerable size advantage to stop any decent Heathfield possession but if the travelling side could avoid being drawn into this battle and move the ball wider when ever possible the game was theirs for the taking. So it proved. Heathfield opened the scoring with the forwards securing quick ball deep in the Hove half and then quick hands through the backs found Mike Dilley on a supporting run to take the final pass and crash over. The tricky conversion out wide was missed.
The second Heathfield try came soon after this. Again fast but controlled ball from the forwards was shipped down the back line with precision to put Josh Mullet in space on the wing. He duly took his chance and outpaced the covering defence to score almost under the posts. This time with an easier kick Tom Gooders made the conversion and Heathfield were in front 0-12.
Just when it looked like the flood gates were going to open the nature of the game changed. Whether it was Hove lifting their game or Heathfield keeping it too tight some great kicking down the slope from the Hove fly half took his side deep into Heathfield territory and here the game stayed for much of the rest of the first half. The travelling side defended stoutly with Ian Schlieder, Tom Ralph and John Parsons in particular making some strong tackles. They also resisted several destructive mauls from the large Hove pack close to their line but failed to generate any good ball that could be used wide and consequently Hove kept the score line as it was to half time.
Turning around to play down the slope in the second half Heathfield hoped to return to the game plan that had seen them take the lead in the first half. However Hove battled on for the first ten minutes and still the ball failed to come wide. In fact the next score came from a lucky break. A poor pass from the Hove scrum half went over the head of his fly half and sharp thinking from Heathfield fly half Tom Ingram saw him pounce on the loose ball and score. This break through lifted Heathfield and they began to execute what they had threatened to do from the start. The forwards stopped trying to battle Hove up front and instead rucked good ball which was shipped to the backs. Josh Mullet and Tom Gooders combined well for Josh to score his second. Mike Dilley who was lively all game and covered every inch of the pitch throughout scored a deserved second try and a chip over the defence by Simon Hollingdale was collected smartly by Tom Gooders to touch down with three Hove defenders hanging off him. Heathfield could have had more but for a bit of bad luck or at times silly errors that will need to be tightened up before their next outing.
All round a decent performance this week and Heathfield were playing with smiles on their faces for most of the game which is how it should be. Man of the match was between three. Mike Dilley for his effort, being everywhere and scoring two tries, fullback Tom Gooders also played well, giving the scoring pass on a couple of occasions and making lots of ground with some strong running, but it was returning scrum half Tom Keylock that got the award. He tackled superbly taking down guys twice his size, made some lively breaks and most importantly spread the ball wide (most of the time) when it needed to go.
Match report by Simon Hollingdale
Team: Rory Burchett (Mike Powderly – 50), Dan Bird, Greg Kneller, John Parsons, Mike Dilley, Kenny Lewis (Mike Weekes – 70), Tom Ralph, Ian Schlieder (Mike Brown – 40), Tom Keylock, Tom Ingram, Julian Wates, Ross Riley, Josh Mullet, Simon Hollingdale, Tom Gooders.
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2/6/2010 4:27:41 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00) 
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