	Saturday, March 08, 2008

Heathfield 2nd's 67 Hove 3rd's 3

With still 2 more league games to go this victory saw Heathfield guaranteed promotion. Hove arrived unable to field a front row which meant the game would have uncontested scrums as well as being played in torrential downpours and gusting winds.

Despite the conditions Heathfield tried from the outset to play open, entertaining rugby, unfortunately they weren’t quite precise enough and too many moves were squandered with poor handling or failing to pass the ball. However after 20 minutes Heathfield pressure began to tell and a flowing backs move was halted just in front of the try line, as the Hove scrum half tried to clear, it was charged down and Simon Green gathered and went over for the first score. Hove came straight back at Heath and were rewarded with 2 penalties, one of which was converted. Heathfield eventually started to put phases of play together and Ed Skinner made a break from the halfway line but just couldn’t make it over the line, the maul that followed saw Levi Willis squeeze over for a try, Goatcher converted. There followed a solo run from the captain Jim Cummings who scored under the posts, Goatcher converted and Heathfield went in at halftime 19-3 up.

With the wind behind them Heathfield were able to turn the screws in the second half and with quick ball provided by the forwards they played with pace and power. Despite not being able to secure line out ball the backs were moving the ball quickly along the line, good play resulted in a further try from Levi Willis, a typical Jack Bayley support play try, also Nick Evans rolled over from 2 yards out for his try, Goatcher converted. As the half went on Olli Robertshaw grabbed a brace of tries from excellent support play, Warren Wright got one and Jim Cummings got his second. There was a feeling of jug avoidance with 3 players scoring 2 tries and a possible deliberate knock on by Jones with 70 yards to go and no opposition in front of him. All in all in terrible conditions Heathfields’ quality showed through, with 2 league games to go Heathfield can look forward to a tougher challenge in the League above next season.

Report by Shaun Hipgrave