Eastbourne RFC Colts v Heathfield & Waldron RFC Colts RFC CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE MATCH

Eastbourne RFC Colts v Heathfield & Waldron RFC Colts RFC CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE MATCH – 2nd February, 2020 Result: 12-7 (win for Eastbourne)
Buoyed by a narrow victory away at Uckfield last week and with the last encounter earlier in the season a draw it was not difficult to predict how close this match was going to be.
A heavy pitch drenched by the recent rain, two committed, evenly matched sides, saw a competitive and evenly fought game which could have gone either way right until the end.
Grey conditions with a strong north easterly breeze contrasted with the explosive opening period – Heathfield used their forwards initially driving tight to the rucks, with George Hayter showing well with several convincing carries. These early advances were met with solid Eastbourne defence, a strong feature of both teams’ play throughout match. One such foray saw the line broken and a swift pick-up and pass by Sam Tiley, who played well filling in at scrum half, brought the backs of Angus Patterson and Cam Reader into play which saw John Beaton go over in the corner for a well worked try and a superb start. This was further bolstered with Tom Reilly kicking the conversion. 0-7 after 3 minutes.
The rest of the half followed a tight pattern with much of the play being conducted between the two sides’ 22s. Eastbourne used the wind well and a last ditch, vital tackle by Finn Scott-Taggart playing at full back rescued this situation. Subsequent phases enabled Eastbourne to set-up a period that resulted in further impressive defending by Heathfield. A charged down box kick on the Heathfield line gave Eastbourne the opening they needed to create the space and score under the posts. The extras were duly converted. 7-7 after 25 minutes.
The scrum was evenly contested throughout whilst Heathfield worked well in the maul with their back row of James Stevens, Ryan Shields and Ollie Carr scrapping hard on the floor at the rucks and protecting and turning the ball over to relieve the pressure. When Eastbourne began to press hard, George Callow, Ollie Tooke and Ellis Wilson all responded with crunching tackles. Jack Flint made the hard yards with several well-judged drives too.
The lineout proved a little more problematic with both teams stealing and not really securing their own ball. As the half drew to a close a few non-straight throws weren’t called in Heathfield’s favour and a five-metre scrum wasn’t given when the ball was kicked out beyond the try line which resulted in tempers flaring and Heathfield being marched back 20 metres.
In the closing minutes of the opening half with a little energy temporarily lost in what had been excellent Heathfield defence, Eastbourne managed to intercept a pass on the visitors’ 22 which saw their big centre squeeze through a gap and score under the posts. The resulting conversion was missed. Which meant a half-time score of 12-7 to the home team, which on balance was probably about right.
The second half saw no let-up in the determination shown by both sides. However, a string of penalties awarded against the visitors made field position and possession very hard to establish, the big home pack began to also exert themselves. There was now great endeavour in the running of their backs too, but impressive defence and tackling, particularly by the replacements Sam Walley and Jack Dunnell stopped them in their tracks. Several times Hamish McAlister also thwarted Eastbourne’s forays and good territory kicking, using the wind, by Reilly relieved the pressure.

Heathfield came back with still over a quarter of the game to be played, and pressed hard: a period of pick-up and goes by the forwards saw them camp for long periods in the Eastbourne 22. An ankle injury to the home team’s number 5, we hope not serious, saw a break in play/momentum and despite Heathfield’s efforts it was not to be; a fumbled ball and a penalty turnover shortly afterwards led to that crucial chance drifting away. So, a close game between two evenly matched teams bodes well for the rest of the league season and onwards and upwards to the cup match with East Grinstead next Sunday.
Team: 1. Ollie Tooke; 2. George Hayter; 3. George Callow; 4. Ellis Wilson; 5. Jack Flint; 6. Oliver Carr; 7. James Stevens (c); 8. Ryan Shields; 9. Sam Tiley; 10. Tom Reilly; 11. Jon Beaton; 12. Angus Paterson ; 13. Cam Reader; 14. Hamish McAlister; 15. Finn Scott-Taggart Replacements: 16. Jack Dunnell (35) for Tooke; 17. Sam Walley (35) for Flint;
Scores: 6 mins: Heathfield – converted try: 0-7 25 mins: Eastbourne – converted try: 7-7 35 mins: Eastbourne – unconverted try: 12-7
Full-time score: 12-7