Sussex Rugby - Heathfield & Waldron RFC - East Grinstead 1st XV 8 Heathfield & Waldron 1st XV 7

	Saturday, October 14, 2006

East Grinstead 1st XV 8 Heathfield & Waldron 1st XV 7

A missed opportunity.

On a dry, fine day with a variable breeze, both teams started this game without a win in the league this year and both demonstrated a lack of confidence in their play.

Unusually the first half was scoreless and it was during this period that Heathfield should have scored several times. East Grinstead were only able to break out of their own half for one short passage of play following a big kick out of defence. For the rest of the time Heathfield were camped in the right part of the pitch and they had several opportunities but always came up just short of the line or, on the most glaring occasion, managed to spurn a three man overlap. While giving credit to East Grinstead for their defensive qualities, Heathfield are suffering from what some describe as ‘tryline fever’.

Initially lineouts were relatively even: quick short ball at the front worked well for Heathfield with Rob Lawrence being caught close to the line on one occasion. The scrummage was under some pressure and Paul Flood did remarkably well in tidying up difficult situations at the base of the scrum as well as having an excellent combative game in the loose. Jim Cumming, Rob Lawrence and Damien Pestell all caught the eye making good ground.

The second half started brightly again for Heathfield with Seb Jones being bundled into touch in the corner. However a few minutes later the East Grinstead three-quarters worked a move in the centre and scored in the left-hand corner, although missing the conversion. This allowed East Grinstead to build in confidence: they had a period of pressure without really threatening the line and gradually Heathfield worked their way back down the pitch for Bryn Jones to work a bit of individual magic and score by the posts. For some reason the kicking tee could not be found but Jo Reilly coolly dropped the goal (this is the same Jo Riley from previous reports – apologies for the earlier mis-spelling) to make it 5-7.

With twenty minutes to go it was anyone’s game and neither set of supporters could feel confident. The Heathfield lineout was misfiring and the scrummage was under more pressure but in the loose the green shirts were still doing well. The ref now had to speak to the captains to cool tempers but it was not a dirty game generally. Mike Hole came for Guy Woods in the centre and made a couple of excellent tackles. Birthday boy Levi Willis also made a cameo appearance in the second-row.

In the last few minutes Heathfield could have played more conservatively in order to run down the clock. Neither side was looking very likely to score when well into stoppage time Heathfield conceded a penalty some thirty yards out. This was the only penalty kicked at goal all day but the East Grinstead kicker made no mistake with the last kick of the game. The home team and supporters were delighted and relieved while Heathfield could only rue the missed opportunity.

Report by: Phil Bell

1st XV
10/14/2006 1:15:56 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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