Heathfield put on a superb display of all round attacking rugby on a difficult sticky surface at Burgess Hill. The Greenies had experienced problems with beating Burgess Hill in their first league encounter but as far as this game was concerned there was only one side in contention from first whistle to last. Many complimentary things have rightfully been written about this Heath field side but in this match the team hit a peak as a unit and showed how they have reached this stage of the season with an unbeaten record.

The structure of Heathfield`s performance was well nigh perfect. Their forwards quickly achieved supremacy in the set pieces and were frequently first to the breakdown where the back row took charge often winning turnover ball. Both Simon Wilson and George Leney are enjoying outstanding seasons and once again they were the instigators of many of Heathfield`s moves. Joining them in the back row Lee Vokins did not suffer in comparison and made a thorough nuisance of himself to the Burgess Hill half backs. Mark Walker, Kobe Tonkin and Wilson were dominant in the lineout and won a lot of possession from their opponents throws in. The front row simply took charge as always and veteran prop Tim Evans had possibly his best game in a Heath field shirt. His speed in the loose and his handling skills were a revelation and his fitness was certainly on a par with his younger colleagues. Hooker Rob Lawrence had another splendid game and added to his tally of tries this season.

Having established forward supremacy the Greenies went to work on their opposition with a stunning exhibition of fast and powerful running. Will Christian distributed well and made some good runs close to his pack. Skipper Bryn Jones chose his options skilfully and drove Burgess Hill on to the defence with some probing kicks. Damien Pestell and Matt Skinner had their best game of the season as a centre combination and the speedy wingers capitalised on the all round teamwork  with Ed Armah scoring three tries and Adam Tennant always in the action. Behind the three quarters Will Drinkwater was a model of consistency at full back and “Mono” Thewlis looked full of class when he replaced Armah shortly before the end of the game.

First half scores came from Armah(2) flying down the wing and Simon Wilson, capitalising from a line out steal by “Kiwi” Walker and hooker rob Lawrence taking an excellent pass from prop Evans. In the second half the ubiquitous Evans delivered another lovely pass for Ed Armah to continue his tryfest  and the centre pairing scored a try a piece with Matt Skinner converting both.

Coach David Jones was delighted with his team’s performance which will give them great confidence for their remaining games. This Saturday they travel to Crawley for a league match and the following Sunday the Greenies supporters will follow them to St Francis ground in Crawley where they will defend the Sussex Shield against Pulborough.

Report by Mike de St Croix

2/9/2008 3:05:46 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)