There is a buffet lunch prior to the Seaford game this Saturday from 1230 onwards for all VP's and their guests.

Please come and support the Club!

3/8/2006 3:54:40 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)     

Heathfield had so many chances in the 1st half to kill the game off and Eastbourne had two close attempts at scoring in either corner, in the second half, that in the end a draw was probably a fair result. It was a first return to their old club for Ben Darcy and Elliott Marshall so the game was very important for them.

Playing uphill in the 1st half Heathfield took the game to the home side and squandered chance after chance through selfish play, poor handling and resolute defence. The breakthrough had to come eventually and it was off fourth phase when the ball was recycled once again. Fly half Jeremy Burdett's miss pass found flanker Dayle Hollands darted in at the corner. Heathfield normally command at scrum time but found the Eastbourne pack a handful and honours were even. The lineout was fairly contested also, but it was Heathfield’s back row once again that gave the visitors the edge. Matt Halls made good ground with his carrying but his teamates were unable to support him so many attacks petered out. Captain Imran Iqbal was like a man possessed tackling anything in an opposition shirt.  Wing Peter Phair tackling also caught the eye and went close to scoring but the pass was dropped. A fantastic move saw a lovely timed pass from Campbell Lacey find prop Shrek Watkins on the crash ball and he gained 20 yards.

The half ended with Heathfield holding onto a narrow lead and the visiting support expected more as they now played downhill with the wind. However, it was Eastbourne who had the fiery start and began to put some good runs together and nearly scored had their winger not just taken out the corner flag. Heathfield’s impact player Larry Platt came on and began to create havoc within the Eastbourne forwards. Full back Alex Scott made a lovely break through the middle of the Eastbourne defence but he was eventually dragged down.

The tackle of the day went to Heathfield’s hooker Tom Keylock who completely stopped the Eastbourne centre in his tracks as he was driving to the line.

Steadily the home team regained control and the pressure began to mount. With only 5 minutes remaining Eastbourne burst down the touchline and scored right in the corner. They could have won the game a minute later had it not been for a try saving tackle by wing Kyle van Rinsberg.

The match was superbly refereed and the spectators commented on the thoroughly exciting and thrilling game they had watched.

Report by U14 Management 

3/5/2006 1:04:08 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)     

Bridge Batter Brave Boars

League leaders Robertsbridge are always tough opponents but the Boars went into this league game on the back of 3 consecutive victories. As the teams warmed up it was clear that Robertsbridge were on average a stone and a half heavier in weight and a decade younger than their opposite number in the Heathfield team. Boars' manager, Mike Macleod, suggested that the Boars could draw on the example set by the Scots last Saturday. For some reason this was not a universally popular suggestion.

Boars' captain Kenny Lewis won the toss and chose to play with the wind in the first half. From the kick off Robertsbridge took the game to Heathfield with pace and aggression. The Boars just managed to weather the first 10 minutes with Burdett kicking several superb clearances. Dogged Heathfield defence kept scores level for 20 minutes until Robertsbridge broke the deadlock in controversial fashion when the referee declined to penalise what looked like crossing on the 22 metre line. This took two Heathfield defenders out of position and the Robertsbridge forwards punished this by setting up good ruck ball and then driving over between the posts for a converted try. This was followed 5 minutes later by an unconverted try following slack defending.

At this point it looked like the Robertsbridge steamroller would just rack up the points and it might be 'game over' by halftime. However the Heathfield forwards looked at each other and put all they had into the game. From the kick off Robertsbridge infringed at the ruck and Burdett kicked well to the 5-metre line. The line out was tapped back to Mike Jaques who gathered a bouncing ball very well before suppling quick ball to Burdett. Guy Ellery then ran a decoy run that gave Burdett the chance to make a few yards before passing to Mike Barber who then gave newcomer Warren Harris a chance in the right hand corner. Harris did very well to twist out of a tackle and place the ball down for a try. This heartened Heathfield, as it was clear that the backs could make ground if the forwards could win ball.

Five minutes later another Burdett kick took play into the opponents 22. Lewis caught the line out ball and the Boars pack got a maul rolling. This was held up on the 5-metre line but Jacques got the ball out to Burdett who dummied the pass to Ellery and instead gave an inside ball to Mike Barber who stayed strong and fast enough to break 3 attempted tackles and score near the posts. Kenny Lewis converted to level the scores and Boars began to hunt for the ball with renewed vigour.

Unfortunately the next score went to Robertsbridge when Burdett bought an outrageous dummy from the Bridge inside centre who went past to score an unconverted try. This was followed shortly after by a well worked forward try as Bridge went through several phases of 'pick up and drive' and overran the Boars defence. This brought up a half time score of 22-12.

This was as good as it got for Heathfield as an 'animated' Robertsbridge teamtalk, the advantage of the wind and the loss of the Heathfield captain to a broken nose all conspired to pin Heathfield back in their own half for long periods of time. The Boars continued to tackle bravely but leaked four tries in a second half dominated by Robertsbridge. Most of the damage being done by the hard working Robertsbridge forwards.

Tackle of the match was when centre Mike Barber cleanly felled the Robertsbridge number 7, a man twice his size. The 'Man of the Match' award went to Brady Burdett for great kicking and pulling the attacking strings whenever it was possible.

The Boars left the pitch with their pride intact and go on to play East Grinstead 4's at home.

Squad - M. MacLeod, J. La Roche, S. Lester, P. Hookway, A Sutton, S. Walker, K. Lewis (K. Davies -60), B. Taylor, M. Jaques, B. Burdett, M. Barber, G. Ellery, W. Harris (S. Hollingsdale - 75), P. Fitzgerald

Report by Mike MacLeod

3/4/2006 10:29:13 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)     

Saturday saw Heathfield’s development team face top of the table Haywards Heath.  The last encounter was not a pleasant experience when Heathfield played at Haywards Heath, and again Haywards Heath 2^nd team where not playing and the odd ringer was drafted in.

Saying that Heathfield had a good warm up and spirits where high, straight from the start both the pack and the backs knew they where in for a tough long match.  Tackling was excellent from all the players and the pack drove the scrum, this proved a lifting point for the team and everyone rose their game.  Hard, strong tackles followed and midway through the 1^st half Heathfield where matching Haywards Heath in all departments.

This rattled the young Haywards Heath side and they continued to drop the ball in there backs and along with a very tight defence by Heathfield the half time score remained at 0-0

The 2^nd half started off with a bang, Heathfield broke into the Haywards Heath half and from a set play passed the ball down the line in style and looked like a certain try only to drop the ball inside the Haywards Heath 22.

This did not deter the pack to continue to dominate the scrum, rucks and mauls, the only area we failed to control was the line out which Haywards Heath kept kicking the ball out as they knew they where dominating.  Again Haywards Heath won a line out on the halfway line only to drop the ball by there centres which Heathfield where first to the loose ball, great play by Paul Flood and Mike Brown in securing the ball and setting up the backs for another counter attack into the Haywards Heath half.  The ball passed down the line to Peter Philippou who stepped inside and off loaded to Adam Farrell who managed to bounce off 3 of there players into their 22, yet again the forward where there but a knock on meant Haywards Heath managed to clear for another line out.

With 20 minutes to the Heathfield team where slowly getting tired and this is when Haywards Heath managed to break a solid defence for the 1^st time and score there 1^st of 2 tries in the corner of the pitch.  Shortly after the kick off out pack was penalised and Haywards Heath converted a penalty in front of the posts, making the score 10-0

With a couple of minutes to go and yet another line out lost on our 5 meter line Haywards Heath managed a push over try and the score ended 15-0 to Haywards Heath.

Man of the match – very hard to call as everyone put in 110% but a special thank-you to the pack who dominated most of the game.

Team: Powderly, Ambrosino, Fellows, Everett, Hunter-Evans, Brown [Schlieder], Bryant, Flood, Drinkwater, English, Woods, Hesketh (Capt.), Philippou [C Jones], Groom [Gardiner], Farrell.

Report by: Adam Farrell

3/4/2006 6:39:25 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)     

One of those games in which despite a lot of things being done very well, it will be remembered more for the numerous handling errors and silly mistakes.

Let me say first, Heathfield 1^st XV continue to improve game by game. The overall pattern of play, the organisation, communication and the technical execution is far and away improved upon since the early part of the season.

Typically Hellingly were going to make us work hard for our win; a dogged display from them on a soft sticky pitch it was always going to turn out harder than it should.  From the kick-off Heathfield looked the better team and within minutes a series of won phases ended with the backs moving the ball wide only for one of Hellingly’s  defenders to intercept our final pass and race away to our own 22 before being tackled.  From the resulting play Hellingly managed to run in for a try totally against the run of play in the opening minutes.  They missed with the conversion, score 5 – 0.

Our line out display was greatly improved and returning Captain,  Rob Streeter was superb in this area, securing our own ball and often pinching theirs too providing a much improved  foundation for creating a platform from which to launch attacks.  It wasn’t long before the ever-marauding Bruce Pestell got the equalising touch down from a series of forward drives close to the opposition line. Bryn Jones converted, score 5 – 7.

Despite the better supply of ball, the backs had one of those days! Despite continuing to improve by running some very exciting lines at great pace, the actual handling let us down.  On any other day the chances being created would have cut even better opposition apart.  Before half-time, however, Heathfield managed a further two tries as a result of some well organised and dogged phase play by our forwards providing some good ball for the backs to carry on.  First Damian Pestell burst a couple of tackles on a great line to score left of the posts and not long afterwards the ever-green Levi Willis got himself involved in some close forward driving before finishing with the try. Neither of these two scores were converted leaving the tally at half time 5 – 17.

The message at half time was to up the tempo but take more care in securing the ball, look to clean up round the fringes more and take our chances more clinically.

The second half was much the same as the first. We won a fairly decent supply of ball and our backs launched numerous fast and creative attacks but our overall handling didn’t improve resulting in a frustrating afternoon.  Hellingly to their credit, continued to cause us difficulties often managing to spoil some of our good possession and put us under some enormous pressure in our own 22 for long periods of the second half. Our defence was hard and well organised though some tired legs led to some missed first up tackles which eventually allowed Hellingly to score fairly wide out on the right. Again the conversion missed leaving the score at 10 – 17.

This was a rallying call that Heathfield needed at this point of the game. The tempo increased visibly and we began to reverse the pressure spending longer periods in the opposition half.

Close to this point we lost the ever- improving Joe Riley at full back with a nasty looking broken nose. Barry Slay came off the bench to have a fine last fifteen minutes as did Jim Cummings who also joined the fray at this point with Rory Burchett having to leave the field.  With about ten minutes to go, Kobe Tonkin finished off some good handling by forwards and backs to score wide on the left. With the conversion again being missed the score was now 10 – 22 and remained so until the end.

Both teams continued to battle it out for the last few minutes and there were some very tired legs from the heavy ground. Credit to both sides who gave it their all on a difficult pitch but played the game in a great spirit.

My thanks and appreciation to Jamie Marchant who happily took his place on the bench this week and remained positive and supportive all day despite not getting on.

I am confident that as we move through the season, we are improving all the time. If we can continue to get winning results even if on days like this one where areas of the game didn’t go well then it looks good for the future. We are playing a different more exciting style but it takes time to develop.  I am delighted with the attitude of the players who are starting to develop a strong squad attitude and spirit which will make us even harder to beat.

Congratulations to Lewis Marshall who had a superb game and very deservedly got voted Man of the Match.

On behalf of the team, I pass on our sincerest best wishes to Mike de St. Croix, hoping he makes a very speedy and full recovery to good health. Mike we miss your cheery face being around doing the things you do not least of which is writing these match reports!

Heathfield Squad: Burchett, C Jones, Marshall, Evans, Streeter, B Pestell, Pritchard, Tonkin, Walker, B Jones, Bayley, D Pestell, Hole, Willis, Riley, Cumming, Marchant, Slay

Report by: Dave Jones

3/4/2006 12:18:36 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)     

Jerry is one of the Club’s most loyal VP’s having supported H&W for over  ten years.  He has supported all VP functions and usually attends matches at Cross in Hand.  A couple of years ago he was literally struck down with a debilitating illness which threatened his ability to walk and was for a time life threatening. 

Mercifully with his customary courage and determination he recovered and then applied to take part in a BBC series about people who have overcome serious illness and are training for this year’s London Marathon.

‘Run for Glory’ on BBC One

Episode 1: Thursday 2 March, 7pm

Episode 2: Thursday 9 March, 7pm

Episode 3: Thursday 16 March, 7pm

Episode 4: Thursday 23 March, 7pm

Episode 5: Thursday 30 March, 7pm

Episode 6: Thursday 6 April, 7pm

Episode 7: Thursday 13 April, 7pm

Episode 8: Thursday 20 April, 7pm

Episode 9: Monday 24 April, 7pm tbc (one hour special to include the Marathon)

Find out more by watching the series and if you wish to sponsor Jerry please email me on mikedestc@aol.com

Jerry told me last weekend that one of the best sponsorship offer he has received so far is from our cheerful Hon Club Padre who has offered a free funeral should the marathon prove too much for him!!!  Knowing Jerry he will come through his challenge with flying colours.

Mike de St Croix

2/21/2006 2:44:22 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)     

Another tremendous display of passion and commitment saw Heathfield brush aside their visitors from East Grinstead as they pressurised them from the first whistle to the last.

From the kick-off the visitors found themselves in their own 22 and a wayward pass saw flanker Dayle Hollands scoop up the loose ball and dive in to score. Minutes later number 8 Matt Halls peeled of the back of a maul and darted through a gap to put Heathfield 10 points up. Captain Imran Iqbal had an inspirational game and lead from the front and was deservedly named "Man of the Match". His running lines were superb and good field position was gained. The tackling of the side has improved over the last few months and Ben O'Connell put in a super hit to halt a Grinstead attack in its tracks.

The visitors struggled to gain any platform to work from. At scrums the solid Heathfield front row of Oliver Hancock, Tom Keylock and Pudsie Pring, gave their opposite numbers problems and at line outs, although East Grinstead won more possession, Heathfield's back row of Salmon, Halls and Hollands were in amongst them quickly. The hard working second rows of Jake Tyler and Ben Darcy had tackled themselves to a standstill and were tactically substituted at Half time for Larry Platt and Robert Horsfall-Turner who also both had solid games. A lovely back move involving centre Campbell Lacey and wing Peter Phair early in the second half, resulted in Salmon bursting up the touchline to score giving one try each for the back row.

With heavy rain it was amazing that Heathfield were able to play such fluid rugby in atrocious conditions but they continued right to the end. Fly half Jeremy Burdett set up an attack from half way. The ruck was formed and replacement scrum half Will Chipchase sent out a wonderful pass to Burdett who cleverly fed Dayle Hollands through a gap, beating three players and scoring his second try under the posts, thus making the conversion easy for Halls to slot.

Elliott Marshall's clever little darting break put Heathfield deep into Grinstead territory and following a clearing kick, fielded by Alex Scott, he ghosted his way through several would-be tacklers to score the final try. East Grinstead well deserved their only try from their inside centre very late on but it was too little, too late and Heathfield ran out comfortable and worthy winners.

Brady Burdett aged 42

IMMENSELY PROUD COACH!

2/19/2006 11:25:12 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)     

Boars raise their game

The Boars went into this league game on the back of a run of improving results and intent on avenging a heavy defeat in the reverse fixture earlier in the year.  In greasy wet conditions the victory can be put down to a good performance from the Heathfield forwards and excellent tackling in the backs.

Playing up the infamous Waldron slope in the first half Heathfield showed they meant business by taking the play to Lewes from the off.  At scrums Heathfield's big front row applied the pressure that kept Lewes's big back row tied in and gave space for centres Wates and Hesketh to make ground.  Heathfield won a series of penalties at rucks and Paul Watton made Lewes pay for these when he barged over between the posts after 20 minutes for a try converted by Kenny Lewis.  These two combined well for the second try 10 minutes later when Lewes just stopped Watton a metre short of the line only to find that Lewis had taken the ball and sneaked in to score a try that he then converted.  Lewes rallied from here and Heathfield found themselves defending their own line for the last 10 minutes of the half.

After the break Heathfield made the slope count and scrum half Ben Taylor scored a nicely taken try when he picked up from the base of a scrum and took advantage of a gap in the defensive line.  Shortly afterwards the Heathfield number 8, Mike Brown, controlled the ball well as the Boars dominated at a 5 metre scrummage and got the touch to score a pushover try that took the score to 24-0.

Lewes refused to lie down and their spirit saw them score in the top left corner after taking a quick penalty that sucked in too many Heathfield defenders.  They then applied a period of pressure that belied the score and might have come back into the game had not Julian Wates used his experience to intercept a pass on halfway and then used the slope to carry him over the try line.  That killed to game as a contest and Brady Burdett put the icing on the cake when he looped round his centres and went over in the bottom left corner for the final try of the match.

Tackle of the match was when blindside flanker Simon Walker spotted the dangerous Lewes number 8 pick up and drive and he took man and ball into touch.  The Lewes man retired hurt shortly afterwards.  The 'Man of the Match' award went to captain Kenny Lewis for his all round performance. The Boars hope to take their fine form into the match against league leaders Robertsbridge in 2 weeks time.

Squad - M. Powderley (M. MacLeod - 55), T. Wates (A. Sutton - 50), P. Watton (S. Lester - 65), P. Hookway, T. Rose, S. Walker, K. Lewis (Capt.), M. Brown, B. Taylor, B. Burdett, J. Wates, D. Hesketh, G. Ellery, P. Squires (S. Hollingsdale - 75), P. Fitzgerald (N. Slack - 50)

Report by: Mike MacLeod

Who pushed him over then?!...

2/18/2006 9:20:45 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)     

This game was played in wet and thoroughly unpleasant conditions but all the players and the referee provided one of the most entertaining matches seen at Cross in Hand for a long time. This was a splendid advertisement for club rugby and both clubs and the excellent ref deserve huge credit.

There were many handling mistakes but both teams attempted to play attacking rugby and although the tackling was fierce the game was played in the best spirits of the game.  Heathfield deserved to win because although they were under pressure for long periods they played the most constructive rugby and their young backs always threatened when presented with good ball.  Under their patient and skilful coach Dave Jones the Greenies are gaining in confidence and are developing into a well drilled unit. 

All bar one of their tries was scored by backs, the exception being a superb solo effort by the ever dependable lock Jim Cumming who jigged and side-stepped his way through the Pulborough side from outside their 22 to secure the match winning try.  It was just reward as Jim had previously crossed for a try after a catch and drive from Bruce Pestell.  Unfortunately the ref was unsighted.

Pulborough won all the early possession but as soon as the home backs started running some good ball Seb Jones, last seasons Colts captain, finished an excellent move to score a try on his 1^st XV debut.  After a slow start Heath kept up the pressure and soon after Cumming’s disallowed try Bruce Pestell, who was outstanding in a much improved pack, won a line out inside the Pulborough 22 for skipper Bryn Jones to cut inside, sell a dummy and score a  try under the posts.

The Jones brother’s monopoly on the score sheet was broken when another of Heathfield’s fast improving backs Joe Riley sprinted down the wing from halfway to score in the corner after collecting his own kick ahead.  Pulborough replied with a well taken try and the teams changed ends with Heath ahead by 17-5.

The second half produced some robust but always clean rugby with Jack Bailey and Kobe Tonkin always in the thick of things and the evergreen Tim Evans making a number of charging runs.  New boy Tom Pritchard standing in at scrum half after an injury to Lee Vockins also showed what an asset he will be to the Greenies.  Returning to the scoring it was back to man of the match Bryn Jones to score another try after good work by Damien Pestell who continues to impress now that he is near to top form after injury. Pulborough never flagged and their two converted tries were just reward for a wholehearted performance.

The corner has turned for this Heathfield side.  On the evidence of this performance they will be a pleasure to watch and will continue to improve on their position in Sussex Division 1.

Heathfield: Fellows, Marchant (C Jones), Burchett (Everett), Evans, Cumming, B Pestell, Bayley, Tonkin, Vockins (Pritchard), B Jones, Willis, D Pestell, Hole, S Jones, J Riley

Report by: Mike de St Croix

2/18/2006 9:07:07 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)     

What do you call a squad made up of Boars forwards and Development team backs? Surely it must be the "Developing Boars". Whatever the name it was a 'combined team' that faced the Hove Beefeaters on a sunny afternoon that offered the promise of perfect conditions for running rugby.

The game started with Hove taking the early initiative by attacking repeatedly through their large pack. Early set pieces suggested that it might be a long afternoon for Heathfield's forwards if they could not retain the ball on their own put in. It took Heathfield about 10 minutes to sort themselves out and counter the forward strength of Hove with quick ball to the backs. This tactic paid off when Barry Slay came into the line from fullback and danced past two defenders in a 22-metre dash to the line. Will Drinkwater accepted an easy conversion to take the score to 7-0.

More hard work in the forwards (the tight 5 working hard in set pieces with superb work from the back row in the loose) gave the Heathfield backs enough ball to ensure good territorial advantage. From a maul on the 22 metre line Mike Brown produced an excellent break before being hauled down on the 5-metre line. Mike Brown did superbly to retain the ball and was (to everyone's surprise) supported by props Macleod and Lester who made room for Andy Sutton to pick up and crash over the line for a score once again converted by Will Drinkwater.

If Heathfield thought that this might cause their opponents to drop their heads and open the floodgates Hove were to prove them wrong. Yard by yard the Hove forwards drove up the hill and were rewarded for their efforts by a well worked converted try. The Hove forwards bludgeoned the defence forcing the Heathfield defenders to commit too many bodies before spinning the ball wide to score in the right hand corner.

Heathfield then went back to work and got what was to prove the decisive score 5 minutes before half time. A Brady Burdett break was well supported by Mike Brown and Tom Faulkner-Bryant finished off with a pick up and drive when Brown was hauled down just short of the line. Will Drinkwater hit the post with a difficult conversion attempt leaving the half time score at 19-7.

The second half was much more difficult for Heathfield as they had to play up the slope and the heavier Hove forwards ensured that the game was mostly played in the Heathfield half. Heathfield had a brief respite when Hove had a man sin-binned for failure to retreat at a penalty but failed to take advantage of the extra man.

When Hove were restored to a full compliment Heathfield had to defend for a long spell as Hove won 'put in' at a series of scrums and applied serious pressure.  After several drives from the base of the scrum Hove were awarded a penalty try as the Heathfield back row broke their binding too early in search of an early tackle. The try was converted to take the score to 19-14 and the outcome of the game was back in the balance.

The rest of the match was generally evenly fought with both side threatening. But the game went to Heathfield after a tackle by Walker and MacLeod denied Hove when they kept the ball from being grounded over the try line during Hove's most threatening attack.

Squad - M. MacLeod, J. La Roche, S. Lester, A. Sutton (P. Hookway - 40 mins), S. Walker, K. Lewis, Tom Faulkner-Bryant (D. Wythe - 40 mins), M. Brown, W. Drinkwater, B. Burdett, D. Hesketh (C. Jones - 40 mins), A. Farrell, P. Phillipou, O. Hearsey (W. Harris - 40), B. Slay

Report by Mike MacLeod

2/11/2006 9:11:12 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)     

Squad: R Burchett, J Marchant, L Marshall, T Evans, J Cumming, B Pestell, T Pritchard, K Tonkin, L Vockins, B Jones, J Riley, D Pestell, M Hole, L Willis, S Thewlis, C Jones, J Bayley, M Walker

Report by Mike de St Croix

2/11/2006 9:07:37 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)