Hurricanes top the pool despite narrow loss to Crowborough

Heathfield arrived at Crowborough RFC on a cold, wet and actually snowing Sunday morning for the final match of Phase 1. H&W coming into the game with 10 points and Crowborough trailing with 6. Therefore putting considerable pressure on Crowborough to win.

We were graced with being able to play on the main pitch in front of the club which was not only a relief to the players but also the spectators being able to take shelter from the club house with plenty of hot drinks to keep them warm.

This was always going to be a close match given the past performance in our Pool and so it proved to be. With the wet and slippery conditions the game was more forwards orientated with lots of phased ball and H&W quite frankly dominant in this area even to the acknowledgement of the Crowborough coaches. This eventually paid off with a try coming to H&W in the 20th min of the first half to take H&W ahead. Unfortunately the try was in the corner which made the conversion difficult. Score 0-5 to H&W. The players continued to slog it out for the remainder of the 1st half leaving H&W in the lead at 0-5.

H&W started again in a controlling position on the field and Crowborough had very few chances of getting near H&Ws 22. However in the 35th min a mistake in defence from H&W allowed Crowborough into the game with a runaway try which was placed under the posts making for an easy conversion taking the score to 7-5. Crowborough sniffing victory then and came back with a vengeance but H&W defended valiantly even coming close to scoring but were sadly denied. The final score being 7-5 to Crowborough after 50 very tough minutes of play. Well done H&W for a fantastic effort in the face of gruelling conditions. Even with the loss, H&W were able to keep the points difference minimal which means Heathfield go top of Pool B and are therefore moved up to Pool A for the final Phase of the season. Great team effort again on the back of the recent Midhurst win and given the very cold conditions it was great to see all the players put 100% effort in in the day. This will also stand them in good stead for the U15s league positions.