Colts maintain winning run

Crawley kicked off with the reasonable wind in their favour in a match they were desperate to win as Heathfield were the only side they hadn’t beaten in their time as juniors.

Crawley applied pressure from the kick off with a good chase and although Heathfield gathered well, they were back pedalling such that they gave away a penalty 30m out for offside. Crawley converted to take an early lead.

Heathfield, although fairly sluggish in the warm-up, proceeded to take control fairly quickly. Both sides were fairly evenly matched in the scrum (Crawley did have a heavy weight pack!) and lineout but it was at the breakdown that Heathfield had a slight edge – when allowed to play! However, it was when the ball was moved that Heathfield had a decided edge over their opponents and it was just such movement that saw Heathfields first points scored.

Heathfield won a series of lineouts within the Crawley 22m as they were unable to clear any distance and after the 3rd of these, Adam Davies peeled from a catch and drive, popped a brilliant ball to Rob Flett in the tackle who in turn popped to Rory Cramp running a straight line at pace to crash over near the posts. Harry Reilly converted and was to be 100% with his kicking stats this match.

Heathfield were still giving away silly penalties – offside, in at the side, over the top at rucks etc… - all things that were unnecessary as they were winning most of the contested play and Crawley seemed to be playing perfectly and not infringing at all. Indeed, Crawley took a few shots at goal during this period without success and in reality it seemed that was probably their best chance of keeping the scoreboard ticking over.

Heathfield, when allowed to play, managed to string together a few good attacks and one sweeping move after 25 minutes saw the ball in Piers O’Conor’s hands wide out on the wing. Everyone on the touchline backed O’Conor to beat the opposition but he elected to chip ahead instead. This proved to be an excellent decision as he won the race to the bobbling ball and scored by the posts.

The match was moving inexorably in Heathfields favour with Crawley now playing almost exclusively in their pack. Half time saw Heathfield in a fairly good position and looking to kick on in the 2nd half.

Half Time: Heathfield lead 14 – 3.

From the kickoff it was evident that Crawley were going to play a tight game and to their credit they sucked Heathfield into a forward battle which was really an honours even contest. It wasn’t until much later in the game that Heathfield figured out that Crawley were susceptible when the ball was moved.

In the meantime however, apart from a 5 minute period when silly penalties from Heathfield allowed Crawley to move up the field with lineouts and eventually score a well worked 5m catch and drive, Heathfield were pretty much exclusively in the Crawley half but unable to pull away from a rather turgid forward battle.

Reilly kicked a penalty after 20m to move Heathfield 2 scores clear at 17 – 8 and eventually Heathfield scored a very simple first phase try from a 5m scrum with Jack Koops crossing the line unopposed.

Heathfield now had a “hurry-up” to score the 4th bonus point try but ran out of time. Had they played the half as they did the last 10 minutes, there would have been no reason for a hurry-up but all credit to Crawley for playing to their strengths and keeping play tight.

As coaches it is nice to be annoyed and disappointed with ONLY winning 24 – 8 but in truth the game really was there for a bigger score so hopefully it’s a lesson learned by the Heathfield players to play to their strengths and exploit any weakness in the opposition.

Full Time: Heathfield win 24 – 8.

Team: Adam Davies, Alex Borg, Max Ellery, Henry Ross, Jack Smith, Rob Flett, Isaac Brown, Rory Cramp, Henry Jolliffe, Harry Reilly, Tim Sills, Fergus Diplock, Piers O’Conor, Gareth Lloyd, Jack Koops, Jasper Wrenn, Jack Baird, Liam Parsons.