Sussex Rugby - Heathfield & Waldron RFC - Hove Fusilliers 17 vs. Heathfield Boars 49

	Saturday, April 14, 2007

Hove Fusilliers 17 vs. Heathfield Boars 49

Boars finish with a flourish

For their last league game of the season the Boars arrived and saw a team of much larger men looking ready for a rumble. The wise Boars noted that it was boiling hot and the ground was rock hard so they opted to play an open fast game. This led to one of the best 40 minutes of play in the whole season.

Seven unanswered tries settled the game in this opening period and all 15 players played their part in the game. The tone was set by Duncan Hesketh in the first Hove attack of the game as he dumped his opposite number hard and backwards onto the concrete like ground where he lay counting his limbs for a full minute.

The Boars forwards matched their much heavier opponents and hooker Jono Sharp even stole several scrums against the head. In open play the lighter Boars got to the breakdown in greater numbers and used the ball wisely. This gave quick ball to the backs who used it to great effect and tore holes in the defence before running in the tries.

Tries were scored out wide by Chris Jaques, Jim Cumming and Rob Woods while Duncan Hesketh grabbed two tries by bashing through the centre. These lovely running tries were complemented by two scores off the back of the solid scrum and through the big Hove bodies in defence. The first was scored by Ben Taylor at his hung-over best. The last of the half was a brave score by colt number 8 Olli Robertshaw on his debut for the Boars.

By half time the heat was becoming a big factor with blisters coming up on many players feet. Hove found a number of replacements at half time and came out stronger for it. The Hove forwards used their bulk from the kick off and punched a hole in half hearted defence to score within 5 minutes. For the next 10 minutes the Boars struggled to re-assert themselves and came off second best all over the park. This led to 2 more Hove tries and moved the score to 17-37. Surely it was not possible that Hove could come back into it?

Jim Cumming was certainly not about to let that happen and from 30 metres out charged the centre of the Hove defence. It is a surprise to see a 2^nd row player sidestep once and Jim beat this by sidestepping twice before handing off two tacklers as he gained the line. This solo effort lifted the Boars spirits again and Chris Jaques ended the scoring late in the half when he finished off a move that had started in the opposite corner of the field. It was a great way to round off an excellent performance.

The Boars Man of the Match was Mike Brown who was always in the thick of it from blindside flanker.

Boars Team – M. MacLeod, J. Sharp, A. Sutton, T. Rose (D. Bazen – 40), J. Cumming, M. Brown, K. Lewis (S. Walker – 60), O. Robertshaw, B. Taylor, B. Burdett, D. Hesketh (P Squires – 55), S. Goatcher (O. Squires – 55), C. Jaques, S. Hollingdale, R. Woods.

Report by Mike MacLeod

The Boars
4/14/2007 10:14:21 AM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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