Shhh . . . you might wake Heathfield U15’s. Not the team talk we gave before kick-off, but it was certainly the impression we got from the side-line! Heathfield’s lack of ability to wake up allowed Hove to get an early foothold in the game. Despite some pockets of tackling, an excellent clearance kick by Aaron and chase to regain possession by Edward, Hove still scored within a few minutes. Some moderate pressure slightly delayed the next try but not taking tackles early and allowing too much space out wide Hove were 21-0 up with only 10 minutes played – not an ideal scenario from any stand point.

Eventually Heathfield started to rouse themselves and began to play something resembling rugby. Some better defending and communication in the middle meant Hove was stopped on a number of occasions. The Heathfield pack kept the ball in tighter and started to control some phases of play. Tom T was nearly through but some good covering by Hove saw the ball drift into touch.

Eventually after building a solid base in the middle of the field the forwards began to move the ball up in a series of driving rucks and mauls, it was good to see George H and Ronan take the ball on and make ground. The ball came out on the blind side where Edward made good ground and passed out to Anthony who, read the game well, came at such a great angle at speed that he was able to go over the try line and run under the posts for a very timely try – right on the half time whistle. (7-21)

Buoyed on by the try, Heathfield were a different team right from second half kick-off. Although we gained more ball the scrappy handling limited the pressure exerted on Hove. The ball finally fell our way with a scrum given on the Hove 10 yard line. Sam picked up from No.8 and scored with close support from Connor and Theo. (12-21). Sensing Heathfield’s increased ability Hove tried to kick long on the restart but the ball went dead - scrum on the halfway line. Heathfield failed to capitalise on such a good position and after several broken phases Hove were awarded a penalty which they sensibly put through the posts for a 12-24 lead.

A series of encounters in the middle of the field led to the next try by Tom T, the ball came out to Aaron, who had replaced an injured Jay at fly half, passed to Max who had so little time to get the ball to Tom it was a wonder it made it, Tom then side stepped, broke a couple of tackles to score under the posts Anthony converted to make the score 19- 24. With Heathfield confidence building, Hove strengthened its squad with a couple of A players. They made the difference in the last ten minutes because they read the set plays well and stopped Heathfield progressing. Towards the end of the game we needed to vary the play at set pieces using all aspects of the team especially when the opposition can sense the moves all too easily. The constant pressure during much of the first half Heathfield needed to resort to basics and use defensive kicking to build the phases of play to get up field rather than relying on a quick counter attack which was not working due to an organised Hove defence. The game finished 19-24.

Despite the result Heathfield played well as a team particularly as we only had 17 available players many of who were playing out of position. On wards to our friendly against Ashford.