The joys of running a social team were vivid prior to this encounter. Last weekend there were more players than you can ‘shake a stick at’ yet this week there were only 10 players available on the day before the game. This led to plenty of pleading calls to the sick, the old and the feeble in and around Heathfield. This method worked to the extent that 16 bodies turned up to Seaford. As only 7 were forwards and 4 were flankers it was decided to go to uncontested scrums right from the start.

The match was a good clean contest played at an excellent pace throughout but turned out to be an advertisement for (and say it quietly) training. The match was Seaford’s by such a huge margin because they worked as a team while Heathfield played as a group of individuals. The first two Seaford tries came via individual errors (first a silly offside position leading to a tapped penalty, the second a missed tackle) coupled with poor defensive alignment. Heathfield did have quite a lot of ball to work with but the forwards were not quick to the ball and every yard gained was a hard yard and when it went out to the backs the Heathfield centres (Farrell and Squires) came up against a well drilled and resolute defence.

Heathfield were reasonable happy to get to half time with the score at 21-0 (Ok Brady wasn’t and he let the forwards know what he thought of their work rate in the break).

After half time Heathfield played a more positive part in the game. The forwards were more competitive at the breakdowns and carried the ball better. The backs seemed to be more direct in their running and this took the game to Seaford. The weakness remained in defence. Two of Seaford’s four second half tries were counterattacks from their own 22 metre line through gaps left in the Heathfield back line. The other two were traditional Seaford forward power tries through tired looking tackles.

As the game clock wound down Boars captain, Kenny Lewis, exhorted his troops to regain some pride and score in this match. This was achieved with the last play of the game when Adam Farrell took a crash ball over the line from 7 metres out. This was a crumb of comfort for all the hard work put in.

Man of the match for the Boars was close between Brady Burdett (for working hard to get the best out of what was on offer), Adam Farrell for his hard running and Paul Squires for his all round game. The award went to Paul Squires along with the comment that if he managed to present the ball to his own team after the tackle he would make a fine player. As an ex Aussie Rules footballer his retort was both unintelligible and unprintable.

The Boars also won the ‘man of the match’ drinking race when they swapped the car driving Paul Squires for his passenger Jono Sharp. In doing so they discovered that Jono Sharp can sink a pint in less than 5 seconds or 4 swallows.

It is hoped that a more experienced Boars side will reach Eastbourne for next weeks league encounter.

Boars Team – Mike MacLeod, Jason La Roche, Jono Sharp, Kyle Johnson, Ben O’Neill, Ben Taylor, Kenny Lewis, Steve Lester (Keith Davies – 1), Richard Chapman, Brady Burdett, Adam Farrrell, Paul Squires, Joe Hendry, Simon Hollingsdale, Chris Salmon

Report by Mike MacCleod