Sussex Rugby - Heathfield & Waldron RFC - Heathfield 16 Burgess Hill 12

	Saturday, November 11, 2006

Heathfield 16 Burgess Hill 12

For the second successive weekend, all three Heathfield adult teams won – and on Sunday the club hosted more than 500 people in a mini-tournament plus matches for the U14 and Colts. The clubhouse is being packed out with lots of happy people.
The Sussex League 1 match against Burgess Hill followed the current pattern of being decided by a single score. This looked very unlikely in the first few minutes when the visitors made a faultless start with a clean catch and drive from a lineout near the Heathfield line giving them an impressive, although unconverted, try. With the Heathfield scrum also under pressure it looked like a difficult afternoon for the home team, especially with late changes to the team due to illness. Burgess Hill had first use of a variable but fresh breeze.

The shortage of first phase possession meant that good defense and making effective use of turnover ball were crucial for Heathfield and they steadily came back into the game. The scores were levelled through a move at the front of a lineout 30 yards out which saw Rob Lawrence score his first try for the club in competitive games.
The rest of the first half became increasingly scrappy and the ref felt it necessary to send first a Burgess Hill centre and then Heathfield’s fly-half and captain Bryn Jones to the sin-bin. The half ended with Burgess Hill pressing the green line but somehow the defence held up. Having had use of the wind, they would have been disappointed with the 5-5 scoreline.

The second half was similar in character. Although having the majority of possession Burgess Hill rarely created any chances as Heathfield’s defence proved very effective with Paul Flood and Simon Wilson prominent. The Heathfield scrum was securing some possession, albeit awkward, thanks to some sterling work by the front five and by Andre Douglas in particular.

With the wind behind them, Heathfield spent long periods in the opposition half although they missed two penalties at this stage. Then good handling in loose play set up Bryn Jones for a try under the posts although he contrived to miss the conversion (10-5).

At this point it looked as though Heathfield were in control but they failed to capitalise. Burgess Hill kept competing well and again used their strength from the lineout to score another forwards try which was converted (10-12).
The game was still scrappy with most of the action in the Burgess Hill half and eventually the visitors had another player yellow-carded for dangerous play. Bryn Jones now kicked two penalties, the first a long range effort from near the halfway line(16-12). Kobe Tonkin and Paul Flood bravely stayed on although collecting painful injuries.

As is now customary, the last few minutes had the home supporters nervously studying their watches as Burgess Hill vainly tried to snatch a late win.

Heathfield coach Dave Jones was generally pleased with the performance, especially given the late disruption to the team. This is a young team with several new faces (and more to come?) and it has taken time to come up to speed. The first three league games were lost but now three have been won in a row. With the lower teams all doing well, the season looks increasingly interesting.

1st XV | Latest News
11/11/2006 4:03:06 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

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