Heathfield and Waldron Boars played host to the touring side of Forges les Eaux. The two teams have had encounters in the past, but this was the first on English soil.
On a sunny saturday afternoon everything was set for a good game.
Forges arrived with 12 players and in the spirit of the game Heathfield lent them the necessary players.
Heathfield started strongly and let their presence be known especially in the forwards. not long in Heathfield were awarded a scrum on the forges 5m line. Rob Streeter broke from no 8 to power over the line. The second try came from quick ball in the middle to see Rob Woods run one of his trade mark lines to cut the forge defence in half. Brady Burdett slotted the conversion.
The home side then slipped into a lull thinking that a walk over was on the cards, but the french had different ideas.
after a period of sustained pressure on the boars line and 3 held up tries forges earned a penalty and decided to go for the posts. Benoit duly kicked this straight through the posts to put the visitors on the score sheet.
This spurred the home side on to settle down and play some good phases of flowing rugby. during this period one of the visitors made a tackle landed badly and received a broken ankle for his efforts. Heathfield lent another player and the game resumed. More flowing rugby rewarded by another try from Woods cutting through the French once more. Up stepped Ian schlieder to convert. The Half time whistle went and the teams turned round 19-3 in the favour of the home team.
After a few changes at half time Heathfield lost their dominance in the scrum and had to turn to moves from backs to keep the score moving. Brady Burdett scored next after managing to sell one of his trade mark dummies to fool the visitors and touch down.
Winger Simon Hollingdale finally scored in the corner after several good attempts were stopped by spirited defence from the French.
The next try went to the visitors after Manu broke the line and won the footrace to the try line.
The final score of the match went to the backs again seeing Adam Farrell bully his way through the French defence to score near the posts. Jeremy Burdett stepped up to convert.
The final whistle was not long after, and drew a close to a well spirited game of rugby which had been easy for the ref due to the sportsmanship entered into by both teams.
The whole day was a success for Anglo french relations and will continue on monday with le Marche being held in Heathfield.
Many thanks from all the Boars for Mike Macleods efforts over the years. Player, Manager, Captain general organiser. Played his last game for heathfield today. Good luck to you as a referee.
Special thanks to Dave and Alison Henry for organising food, accommodation and entertainment for our French tourists.
Team: Joe Geesin(Andy Sutton 30),Jono Sharp(Neill Newport 40),Mike Fellows(Paul Hookway 40),John Parsons,Jim Cumming,Ian Schlieder(Tom Ralph 40),Kenny Lewis,Rob Streeter,Dave Rhodes,Brady Burdett,Dave Groom(Jeremy Burdett 55),Julian Wates,Adam Farrell,Simon Holingdale,Rob Woods(Brian Burdett 70)Chris Ambrosino, Jack Bayley,Mike Macleod,Josh Henry.
Latest News | The Boars
8/29/2009 10:09:01 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00) 
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