U15’s – a close defeat in international waters (well nearly!)

Newly prompted Jersey were keen to have at least one home league match in the season so we dutifully accepted their invitation, always a good excuse for a week-end away. The rugby seemed incidental in a very good week-end but we best stick to the game itself at least for this report.

We arrived with a squad of 20 players (19 fit) and unfortunately due to a damaged shoulder Connor came as lead supporter.
Tom Cornwall, as captain opted to kick to Jersey and the half started well and immediate pressure lead to a penalty on the Jersey 22 and we opted to kick, but the ball drifted out to the right and was cleared by the Jersey fly half.

Heathfield had a reasonable amount of possession but could not convert this into points before Jersey woke up and started to apply some pressure of their own. Their game plan was to use the prevailing wind and subsequently kicked a lot in the first half. Early encounters by the Jersey centres were stopped by the last men, Max and Dan respectively. However on both occasions defensive support was limited and Heathfield were lucky not to concede early tries. This lack of support finally led to a penalty near the Heathfield try line and Jersey piled over for the first score of the game (5-0).

Some good forwards work led to a short period of possession and some good switches in the backs, Heathfield managed to edge into the Jersey half. Unfortunately on a few instances that final pass never quite went to hand and the inevitable turnover was conceded. One good period of play started by a clearance kick by Aaron with Harry chasing allowing the forwards to retain the ball by better quality rucking. However Jersey gained possession span the ball down the backs and some mediocre tackling meant that Dan had to make another late tackle to prevent another score. The tackling across the team was tested throughout the game, by and large it held up. Jake in particular, on his return, from injury put in some hard hits. Harrison, Tom de B and George started to make inroads but with only one or two phases at a time progress was limited. The half time whistle blew and with only 5 points being scored this was anyone’s game.

Jersey kicked to Heathfield to restart the game and the boy’s intention was to attack at any opportunity, the backs took the ball but they had watched England’s Danny Care too closely and gifted an interception on our own 22 and the resulting try was converted leaving Jersey 12-0 up within a minute of the re-start. To the boys credit they chased down the restart, hassled Jersey and won a penalty which Tom C put into the corner for a lineout. The resulting phases saw Jersey frustrated and on a penalty a Jersey player threw the ball away, the ref awarded a further ten yards. The forwards took the challenge and drive after drive was stopped by Jersey, with George, Tom deB and Sam coming close to the try line. Ronan helped provide a protected ball at the ruck, Tyler popped the ball to Harrison and he went over for our first try. Aaron was unlucky with the kick as it struck the cross bar but bounced away rather than over (12-5).

With the proverbial bit between their teeth, the phases of play started to link together. With the ball in hand Heathfield looked like the side they can be and Harrison took a final pass and went over to take the score to 12-12.

The final quarter of an hour saw some excellent try saving tackles from Anthony who covered half the field to take out the Jersey centre a few yards from the line. Harrison wrestled another into touch and Max took out the large wing all in the same corner. Jersey players were also held up over the try line on couple of occasions by Jake and one by Ollie. However the continued pressure Jersey finally found a way through and scored (17-12). The game finished with a final Jersey try in the corner to leave the score 22-12.
The boys did well to fight back from 12-0 down particularly as the second try was an interception which is always frustrating. They handled themselves well and coped soundly during a frustrating game. Even at the end of the game it still felt that the fixture could have gone either way, if only one or two of the handling errors had gone to hand then it would have been a different result, which shows how close the margins for error are in this league.

Despite the obvious immediate disappointment in the result the boys represented Heathfield rugby club well. They held their heads up and were gracious losers. It is always good as a coach to see the boys show the respect and the good sportsmanship expected as a core value in any rugby club.