Our first fixture of the season was due to be against Cranbrook as it has been in the past few seasons but unfortunately they are short of players and had to cancel, hopefully we can play a friendly against them later in the season. This presented a challenge to “Phil-the-fix” who mustered up another opposition in no time which was great but then we found out it was against a side that had beaten us convincingly last season - Eastbourne RFC.

Eastbourne has been developing over the past couple of years into a well-trained squad which was reflected in the squad gaining promotion into Sussex League 1 last season. However if we are going to become a better team we need to compete against good squads on a regular basis.

The agreed format of the game was three twenty minute sessions and very much treated as a training and trials exercise by both teams. It was a chance to play some of the boys in different and sometimes unfamiliar positions.

The early part of the first session Heathfield were close to repeating their performance last season where Eastbourne dominated throughout. Eastbourne scored an early try thanks to some lack lustre efforts in the tackle (0-7). This carried on after the re-start with Eastbourne again taking advantage of the space offered by Heathfield defences. Another quick try was stopped by a last ditch tackle by Dan at full back. Improvements started to seep into Heathfield’s game – competing at rucks, tackling and more commitment. Ball retention during attacking play was a problem all game for Heathfield and Eastbourne capitalised on one such turnover and went over for a second try. (0-12)

A more positive approach at the restart led to Heathfield getting into the opposing 22 thanks to a great hit from Sam and supporting pick-up by Max. This continued for the rest of the first session and the period ended at 0-12.

The re-jigging of the side after the break seemed to confuse the boys and once again at the restart a soft try was given away (0-17). Heathfield’s attacking and defence on an individual basis was improving but with poor support the momentum always faltered. The forwards won a scrum on our 22 yard line and Edward, who played well for his first competitive game, ran well with George H in support they made ground however as mentioned earlier the supporting play was not available and the ball was once again lost.

Pressure at the breakdown by Tyler and Henry led to a Heathfield scrum and an unorthodox clearance kick by Sam at No. 8 was well chased by Jay and Ed. From the return kick Ronan ended up with the ball and he set off for a great drive up the middle of the field. Some good tackles in the middle by Connor, Edward and Will slowed down the mounting Eastbourne attack. The session ended with what looked to be a certain try by the quick and elusive Eastbourne full back who had run through most of the Heathfield team only to be brought down by a superb tap tackle by Jay. With only one try in this second session the score was only (0-17).

A well placed kick at the restart and improved pressure from Heathfield led to Eastbourne making mistakes. Harry led a brief period of offensive action which was only halted by some poor passing in the Heathfield backline who found themselves driven back nearly 20 meters whilst still in possession of the ball. Eastbourne pressure eventually led to a try (0-24). And with two others quickly following the score was at 0-34. Harry then led a revival by catching the restart kick with support from George M and Tom de B the ball was edging towards the Eastbourne try line. A number of phases by the forwards resulted in Tom C going over for a well-deserved Heathfield try.

The game highlighted certain areas that need attention such as body position at the point of contact which was invariably too high and led to poor ball retention. We must get to the breakdown quicker than the opposition. For the backs work needs to focus on positional kicking, defensive lines, man-marking and drift defence. Communication for the whole game particularly in key areas such as between scrum half and fly half to organise the backline whether attacking or defending; and also between scrum half and players at the breakdown, too many times the ball was lost or quick ball spoiled by the feet of players getting in the way at rucks and mauls

There were only a couple of tries actually created by Eastbourne the majority came from our own errors. If the boys work hard to counter these errors then the rest of the season has a positive feel. For an opening game against a good opposition the boys should be pleased with the spirit of the team.