A tale of two halves with an excellent U15's come back.

From the off East Grinstead had certainly arrived with clear intention of marking their first league outing this season with an emphatic win. The first scrum seemed to be the turning point for any early glimmers of good play from Heathfield. East Grinstead watched Will hook the ball quickly and cleanly and then they pushed us off the ball and turned it over. This dominance by the opposition forward set the a pattern of play and was the key reason that East Grinstead dominated the half. The large mobile No 8 caused most of the disarray but was stopped early on by Harrison. However within a few minutes of the start of the game East Grinstead were easily over for the first try (0-5).

Heathfield looked a little more settled for about two minutes and did manage to put together a few phases of coherent rugby. This resulted in the ball moving down the line to Tom T to Edward and Sam kicked the ball through a scrappy phase of play which he chased through to score out wide. Tom C kicked what looked to be an excellent conversion only to be robbed at the last moment when the ball dipped and bounced the wrong way off the crossbar. (5-5)

So Heathfield were settled and back in the game, not so and with East Grinstead just wanting the ball more rucked well and were soon over for their second try which was well converted (5-12). The restarts were not chased down with the usual numbers and Dan was isolated from an East Grinstead kick and with a well organised attack they drove the ball up field. Despite some desperate defence the East Grinstead centre, who had a good game, scored with obvious ease. (5-19). The ball did make it down the Heathfield backline, which was the game plan, and Aaron put in a few good runs out wide but the covering defence was well organised and Heathfield support lack conviction and the attacks dwindled. The East Grinstead pack still looked to have more desire than Heathfield and retained the ball phase after phase and were only stopped this time by a penalty infringement in a ruck. Heathfield's kick did not find touch but instead was caught by the No8 who had a clear field out wide to run at but, fortunately for Heathfield, chose to kick the ball, which ended up after a few faltering defensive decisions in a Heathfield 22 kick. East Grinstead gathered this high ball and chipped it back which Dan caught and cleared, but the majority of a lackadaisical retreating Heathfield side were offside, East Grinstead did not need a second invite and ran the ball in to lead 5-24.

It was beginning to look like a desperate afternoon of rugby with a large score looming. Heathfield chased the restart and with much more pressure forced a knock on. From the scrum (the first we had won) Tyler fed the ball to Jay to Harry and Harrison finished off with a try to leave the half time score at 10-24.

So at 10-24 and an increasingly strong looking East Grinstead side Heathfield looked like they were still in for a drubbing – and so to the half time huddle . No hair drier treatment for them, instead Paul asked the boys why they thought they lost the first half. Taken aback by this approach at least half the team contributed something to then discussion - "not enough ball, tackling too high, East Grinstead had more in the rucks, driven off the ball in the scrum to easily, we are not gaining possession of the ball", etc. So they were aware of the performance but collectively had done nothing about it!

The welcome break came to an end and from the opening moments of the second half a different Heathfield side emerged. Answering all their own questions raised at the interval they dominated for large periods of this half. Tom DeB chased through on the restart gained possession passed to Aaron who was bundled into touch and injured his knee. The pressure gathered pace and East Grinstead gave away a penalty, a quick thinking Harrison tapped and drove over the line (17-24). The tide really had turned when the ball found its way down the line on a few occasions, one which saw Tom T gather the ball on the ten yard line, he shook off a few tackles and took it over the line to bring the scores level (24-24). After the doldrums of the first half could this turn around continue. East Grinstead tried to mount a few counter attacks but Jay put in an excellent kick into their comer to keep the pressure on. The forwards were recycling the ball really well and brought the ball close to the line, Anthony then sold a fantastic dummy which sent the East Grinstead fly half, centre and flanker the wrong way and very nearly scored a well-deserved try. The resulting phase saw Tom T go over to take the score to 31—24 the first time Heathfield had led the match.

With the referee indicating four minutes on the clock Heathfield were not there yet. A number of East Grinstead scrums and a couple of penalties meant that Heathfield had to do some hard tackling a few yards out from their own try line. The East Grinstead No.8 continually battered the Heathfield defence and eventually went over to bring the score to a nail biting 31-29. The Heathfield pack had done really well to marshal the try scorer out wide with the conversion surely being the last kick of the match. The combination of a difficult angle and the fact that the whole Heathfield team was charging down the kicker the ball was sliced and to collective Heathfield relief the final whistle blew.

A fantastic game of rugby competitively fought by both sides. The boys can look back at a performance to be proud of and if they keep this spirit in mind for the forthcoming league matches then any result is possible.