Lewes run Greenies hard at home

Heathfield last played Lewes in February on a rain-soaked Lewes pitch, with cross strong winds that forced a draw, preventing the U14 Greenies from an ‘A’ league place this season. This Sunday, in contrast, was a beautiful warm October Sunday just right for a game of running rugby.

The early exchanges were evenly matched with Lewes showing to be an organised, feisty side with in particular a large number 8 to deal with. First blood came to the home side as possession came from a scrum with Chester Duff popping the ball to Lucas Cuming to get the first try.

Second score was taken by big lock Matt McGarvey who ran almost half the pitch and through half a dozen Lewes backs. Caio Mann had hunted down is opposite winger and in tackling and neutralising the break the Greenies turned over, this led Matt sprinting down the touchline and scoring.

The third try came from Chester who had been set up by Tom on the blindside after several of the team had tried to cross the line. The pressure was paying off. Three unconverted tries up gave the team a great platform, but this was eroded just before half- time as the Lewes team scored on the right wing, the home side getting sucked in at the breakdown and not organising themselves to the persistent Lewes team.

Halftime score 15 -7

The second half saw some changes and as ever Phil Sutton made a phenomenal impact and broke clear, a minute or so later capitalising on the ground he made with a try. But the Lewes side fought hard and with a substitution in their team at centre pushed the Greenies hard and displaying great running rugby seemed to threaten every time they had possession. Although a further try came from Miles Geldart, the Lewes team were running the home side hard for the last 10 minutes and scored again.

The referee’s final whistle came with a certain relief, but the home win with bonus points was there!
Outstanding performances came from Owain – as ever busy in the loose, tackling and scrapping for the ball. Man of the match was Lucas Cuming who tackled well, but directed things well at fly half working well with Tom and Theo at Scrum half. A couple of great try saving tackles were made – in particular Sam Benians close to full time.

The team functioned well; the scrum was solid and the tackling resolute. To step up the team need to communicate more with each other and organise themselves at all areas, and watch they don’t give too many penalties away. The Lewes side were often thinking more quickly than the home side with quick throw-ins, or probing kicks or cutting numbers in the line out.

Full time score: 25 - 12

Two games down; – two won with bonus points. Well done the Greenies!

Match Report by James Geldart