Sussex Rugby - Heathfield & Waldron RFC - Heathfield & Waldron Boars 0 Newick 2nd XV 10

	Saturday, January 21, 2006

Heathfield & Waldron Boars 0 Newick 2nd XV 10

This was a tough and evenly matched contest only settled late in the game when individual errors cost Heathfield the game.

On the sloping Waldron pitch Newick set Heathfield the task of playing uphill in the first half. This looked a good call as Newick applied the early pressure and Heathfield had to defend well to keep their line intact. The Heathfield forwards were more than holding their own in the set pieces but were not always reaching breakdowns quickly enough to relieve the pressure on the backs. This was the story for the first 15 minutes as Newick sought to turn territorial dominance into points.

The Boars then began to make ground and show promising signs of an attacking edge of their own. Guy Ellery made a delightful break through the centre and looked certain to score. He would have had his break not started at his own 10 metre line, had he not been running up hill or had his opponent not had 25 years less 'wear and tear' on his legs. He was caught 10 metres short of the line and the chance was gone. Heathfield spent the last 10 minutes in the Newick half and on his debut for the club Jan Koops (at a sprightly 47) took a crash ball and fell 1 metre short of converting a 10-metre penalty. Half time arrived with the score at 0-0.

The second half was very similar to the first with any promising attack met by excellent defence with play switching from end to end. Another new Boar took the field in the shape of the lithe 43-year young frame of Carey North (to make it 4Dad's of the 'under 7 Hurricanes' on the pitch) who made a good impression with a 10-metre carry early on. Around the 70-minute mark, just as it looked like the teams would continue to cancel each other out and reach a rare 0-0 draw, a Heathfield player made the error that would ultimately prove decisive and Newick scored. Heathfield went looking for a converted try that they thought would still allow them to win. Newick were not to be easily denied and were lively enough to take advantage of Heathfield's second error. A long clearance kick was not dealt with and the Newick players made the long trek up the slope faster and in greater numbers than the Heathfield players did. Another unconverted try was the result and Heathfield could do nothing fruitful with the 2 minutes that remained.

The Heathfield man of the match was Brady "5 tackles - £5 please" Burdett and the hope is that Jan and Carey will stay with the Boars for the rest of the season as forwards are in short supply.

A big vote of thanks must go to Joe Geesin who stepped in to referee the match at the last minute when the Sussex RFU were unable to supply a referee. Without him the match would not have been played.

Squad - M. MacLeod, J. La Roche, S. Lester, A. Sutton (C. North - 55), B. Taylor, J. Jackson, K. Lewis (Capt), J. Koops, M. Jaques, B. Burdett, G. Ellery, P. Squires, C. Jaques, P. Rimmer, P. Fitzgerald

Posted by: Mike MacLeod

The Boars
1/21/2006 5:48:30 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

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