Sussex Rugby - Heathfield & Waldron RFC - Newick 2nd's 12 Heathfield Boars 7

	Saturday, November 25, 2006

Newick 2nd's 12 Heathfield Boars 7

The Boars ended their winning streak of 8 games when they came up against a resolute Newick side. The game was played on a rain sodden pitch in blustery conditions that suggested the forward battle was to come.

Heathfield had a disrupted warm up with several players arriving late and this showed in the early stages of the game as the forwards were not supporting each other with the commitment seen in previous games. Early territorial advantage was lost as Newick kicked for position. From a lineout on their own 22 metre line the Boars lost their own ball, then failed to tackle the ball carriers and Newick deservedly took the lead with a converted try. The Boars looked at each other and then went back to work with more passion. This passion saw Newick under considerable pressure in many phases of the game but always brave enough to tackle hard and intelligent enough to kick for position. The Boars forwards began to dominate in the scrums and the mauls while Newick had the edge in the rucking game.

The Boars came close to scoring on two occasions. First when the drove a maul 25 metres only to be brought down 5 metres short. Many referees would have given a penalty try for this. The second was the last action of the first half when Adam Farrell was just unable to ground the ball when held up over the line.

The decisive score of the game came just after half time when Heathfield were guilty of more sloppy tackling and a Newick back went over in the corner for an unconverted try.

Again Heathfield rallied and took the game to Newick. Again this involved domination by the Boars forwards who made plenty of hard yards only to be turned back by a good clearing kick or a penalty awarded against them. After 20 minutes of the second half this pressure paid off as Tony Rose made a half break close to the line and good support work saw Jason La Roche go over for a try. Kenny Lewis converted a difficult kick and it was game on.

Heathfield huffed and puffed in the Newick 22 metre line for most of the rest of the game but found the Newick defence to be very determined and well organised. As the clock ran down Heathfield captain Lewis was in the middle of a maul and grounded the ball over the try line only to be denied by the referee being in the wrong position and opting for a scrum 5 metres out. This was to be as close as the Boars got to levelling the scores.

This was an annoying game for the Boars as they dominated the game for large passages but Plan A did not pay enough dividends and there did not appear to be a Plan B.

Man of the match went to Tony Wates for his whole hearted performance.

Boars Team – M. MacLeod (C. Ambrosino – 60), J. La Roche, A. Sutton (B. Togher – 50), P. Hookway, T. Rose, S. Walker (J. Sharp - 65), K. Lewis, Tony Wates ,B. Taylor, D. Hesketh, M. McDonald (K. Davies – 70), A. Farrrell, R. Such, S. Hollingdale, M. Barber

Report by Mike MacLeod

The Boars
11/25/2006 9:07:32 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

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