Heathfield playing without their 5 Sussex squad players, away on training, travelled the short trip to Hellingly. Unfortunately Hellingly only had 9 players. Heathfield lent the home side 4 players from their squad of 17 and enjoyed a fast and open 13-a-side match.

Captained by fly half Jeremy Burdett for the first time, the ball was run wide at every opportunity. Fantastic dive pass service for him from Will Chipchase saw tries came at a steady rate.

But it was the four players who had not yet scored for Heathfield who took the glory. Pacey wing Kyle van Rensburg bagged two.  Mobile prop Thomas "Pudsie" Pring also got 2. One of which saw him charge down a clearance kick, gather and run in.  Other wing Josh Eaton scored a clever try, cutting in of the left and using clever footwork to go in under the posts. Ben Darcy and his total commitment to the cause, earned him a well-deserved score rounding off a good move.

Other tries came from Oliver Hancock who scored two tries, unfortunately one was for Hellingly when he was playing for them. Greg Salmon smashed two Hellingly players near half way with aggressive tackling, collected the loose ball and then beat 3 players for pace to score under the posts.

Larry Platt also collected a hat trick of tries one of which he ran right across the pitch and then back again, leaving in his wake a mass of flailing arms and would be tacklers.

Other mentions must go to Jake Tyler playing at No.8 worked tirelessly all game and Luke Deacon playing in his 1st game for Heathfield was everywhere.

Heathfield travel to Crowborough next Sunday for their next League fixture of the season.

      Report by: U14 Management

1/29/2006 3:11:15 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)     

What a difference an '8' makes!

A frozen pitch at Crowborough saw the fixture moved to the Waldron pitch so Heathfield felt more at home than usual for an away game. The usual random assortment of players found themselves in a Boars shirt and it looked as if it would be another ragtag performance when the Crowborough no. 10 dummied Brady Burdett and ran 25 metres to score between the posts for an easily converted try.

However the Heathfield forwards started to dominate their opponents in the set pieces and win ball in the loose. Much was owed to an excellent performance from the back row in particular Tom Faulkner-Bryant at number 8. It took 20 minutes and a few close shaves before this domination was turned into points; but it was worth the wait. The forwards won decent ball around half way, Ben Taylor spun a pass to Burdett who passed to Evans, looped round for the return ball and in so doing created a few extra yards for winger Nick Sands to dash 40 metres and score in the top corner.

This reverse seemed to undermine Crowborough's confidence and must have contributed when born again centre Tim Evans took a ball on the halfway line and burst through some poor defensive tackles to score between the posts. Crowborough continued to work hard and tried to provide a platform for their dangerous looking backs but the Heathfield forwards hard work meant that any ball won was slow or scrappy.

Tom Faulkner-Bryant started to boss proceedings from number 8 and began to pick up and charge from the base of the dominant Heathfield scrummage. On one such instance he showed good strength to go over from 5 metre out for a nicely worked  'blind side' try. He also scored from 15 metres when he took a quick tapped penalty and carried at least two tacklers across the line with him. The half closed with Heathfield very happy to be leading 24-7

The second half was a continuation of the first with Heathfield dominant in the forwards and comfortable in the backs. 3 more tries ensued when Tim Evans bagged his second, Tom Faulkner Bryant his third and Jason La Roche scored his first of the season. The latter was the try of the match. Possession was won on halfway, thank you forwards, Burdett made a 10 metre break before passing to Evans who made another 10 metres before passing back to Burdett who drew the final defender and passed to hooker La Roche for the final 10 metre burst to the line. Nice hands and excellent support work gaining its reward.

A 39-7 win meant that Heathfield had several candidates for man of the match. Ben Taylor for a sound shift at scrum half, Kenny Lewis for his work rate and tackling and Brady Burdett for effectively spreading the play between backs and forwards. However 3 tries and an all round top performance saw Tom Faulkner-Bryant win his first MotM award of the season. The Boars could do with number 8 performances like this for the rest of the season.

Squad - R. Burchett, J. La Roche, S. Lester, P. Hookway, B. Ollie (C. North - 40), D. Wythe (A. Sutton - 35), K. Lewis (Capt) (L. Willis - 50), Tom Faulkner-Bryant, B. Taylor, B. Burdett, T. Evans, G. Ellery (M. MacLeod - 60), N. Sands, P. Fitzgerald (W. Harris - 40), J. Bailey

   Report by: Mike MacLeod

1/28/2006 7:24:19 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)     

On a very cold Saturday afternoon the Development XV played against Uckfield 2’s in a local derby at Heathfield.

There was a strong northerly wind coming across the pitch and during warm it was decided to play phased rugby through the scrum and for the backline to take the ball back into the pack to create sufficient space for the wings to run.

Uckfield came with a young and mobile pack and decided to play with the wind in their favour for the first half. From kick off we pressed hard and with excellent defence and rolling mauls created our first try. Uckfield however responded with a well worked move and charged down a kick on our try line to set up their opening try.

The pack then dominated all aspects of forward play with the front row setting the platform for our scrum to not only win our ball but pushing Uckfield back off theirs and creating turn over ball on a regular occasion. Mike Brown, Tom Pritchard and Chris Jones worked well as a unit and continuously crossed the advantage line with pick up and drives and running the ball at Uckfield’s fly half. Tony Rose worked hard in the line outs and caused chaos for Uckfield on their ball by taking it from them.

This allowed the backline to use crash balls back to Uckfield’s fly half and inside centre and with quick ball enabled our mobile back row to run off passes from Shaun Hipgrave.

There was some good positional kicking from Chris English who placed the ball behind Uckfield’s backline and allowed our dominating pack to catch and drive the ball from the lineout. A clever kick from the scrum half Shaun Hipgrave to a vacant left wing position allowed Peter Phillipou who was chasing in attack to time his run to perfection by catching the ball on the bounce and score a well worked try in the corner.

Uckfield used the possession they had to try and crash the ball from their inside centre through the middle however from excellent pressure in defence was tackled on every occasion and often he lost the ball in the tackle which allowed our pack to lay the platform for yet another surge in attack.

There were ten tries scored by Heathfield and even though Uckfield did respond with two of their own they were outclassed and out muscled in an all round  performance which has been the best of the season.

As there were ten tries scored I cannot remember who was responsible for all so apologies to those who did and are not mentioned (Too young to be an age thing!!) but congratulations to the whole team

Tries: M. Brown (2), A. Farrell (1), P. Phillipou (1), M. Gardener (1), P. Watton (1), J. Cummings – Yes a 50m run (1)

Conversions: C.English (5)

Team: M. Powderly (Rep – M. Fellows), C. Ambrosino, P. Watton ( Rep – C. Watton), T. Rose (K. Tonkin), J. Cummings, C. Jones, T. Pritchard, M. Brown, S. Hipgrave, C. English, D. Hesketh, A. Farrell, P. Phillipou, M. Gardener (Rep – D. Groom), B. Slay

Report by Duncan Hesketh

1/28/2006 3:00:51 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)     

This year the Seniors are touring to Ireland from the 19th to the 22nd May. 

The party will be staying in Cork City and be playing 2 games, one against Kinsale RFC with the other one currently TBA.

For more information please contact Ian Jenkins via Ian.Jenkins@marsh.com

Posted by Ian Jenkins

1/26/2006 2:31:51 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)     

A Vice President's lunch was held on Saturday prior to the Burgess Hill game with food prepared by Mel Crowe. VP lunches are held prior to most home league games in the Clubhouse with VP's contacted via email.

For any VP's who would like to know when the next lunch will be held or to add your email to the VP database please contact Club President Mike de St. Croix on Mikedestc@aol.com

Posted by: Nick Green

1/23/2006 6:23:02 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)     

Willie G Motown & Soul.

Saturday 11th February from 1930 onwards at the Clubhouse.

Tickets are £5 in advance with proceeds going towards the May Ireland Tour.

Posted by: Nick Green

1/22/2006 4:28:44 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)     

This was certainly a game of two halves.  From the kick off, East Grinstead, who were playing down the slope, went into an early lead with a try.  However, Heathfield dug in and defended superbly soaking up East Grinstead’s barrage of attacks to end the half only 2 tries down.

A superb run by Heathfield’s Fullback, Joe Benians from just outside his own 22 metre line resulted in an early second half try which brought Heathfield back into the game.  However, he had to leave the game through injury shortly afterwards which allowed East Grinstead to counter whilst Heathfield were still re-organised their defence, and score their 3^rd try of the game.

Some good runs by Flyhalf Jack Warren and superb tackling by ALL of the Heathfield side enabled the visitors to get back into the game.

A strong run by Inside Centre Oli Stables from just outside his own 22 metre area and fine supporting play by Loose Head Prop Fraser Goatcher ended in the Prop sprinting the full length of the East Grinstead half, riding a couple of tackles, and scoring a brilliant try in the bottom corner.

East Grinstead brought the play back to the visitors, but again Heathfield’s strong defensive teamwork kept the home team at bay.

This was a good all round performance by both sides, it’s a pity that there had to be a loser.

   Report by: U13 Management

1/22/2006 12:57:20 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)     

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 4 Dad'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

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

Heathfield look to attack a Burgess Hill scrum with the VP's looking on from the veranda as Damien Pestell oversees proceedings from the centre!

Heathfield scrum-half Matt Walker looks to pressure his opposite number.

Lee Vockins rises high in the lineout

Team: Fellows, Marchant, Burchett, Evans, Hunter-Evans, Vockins, B Pestell, Tonkin, Walker, Jones, Riley, D Pestell, Hole, Willis, Bayley

Posted by: Nick Green

1/21/2006 5:13:46 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)     

Team: Watton, Ambrosino, Powderly, Rose, Everett, Brown, Jones, Schlieder, Hipgrave, Drinkwater, Philippou, Farrell, Hesketh, Gardiner, Slay

Posted by Adam Farrell

1/21/2006 12:04:26 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)     

I've had an email to say that if anybody is heading to Paris and wants to play some rugby British RFC Paris will be pleased to see you.

You can visit their website at www.brfcparis.com

1/20/2006 4:42:15 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)