Heathfield Colts-A 57 - 5 Eastbourne Colts

A league weekend saw Heathfield Colts A playing Eastbourne at Cypress Field and Colts B playing Horsham at Waldron.

Eastbourne kicked off to a very “young” Heathfield Colts A side with Harry Clewley the only U18 player in the squad and a number of U16's starting. Indeed it was Clewley who opened the scoring for Heathfield after a mere 3 mins. Heathfield went through a number of excellent phases linking the forwards and backs until eventually, simple hands down the line and an overlap saw Clewley with a chance to get some momentum. He managed to beat a couple of tackles to score in the corner.

Finally Heathfield had started a match bang on the money in intensity, support and commitment and it really did show. However, Eastbourne came back well and for the next 20 minutes or so, this was a well contested match with Heathfield just shading the stats in most categories.

Eventually though the pressure on Eastbourne began to tell and from an attacking 5m scrum, no. 8 Rory Cramp was able find a hole to allow him to score close to the posts. Harry Reilly converted taking the score to a more comfortable 12 – 0.

Heathfield again kept up the pressure and right on the stroke of half-time, Eastbourne cleared long from deep within their 22. Reilly fielded the ball on the touchline, slung a huge pass infield to Clewley and the winger did the rest! From almost at the half-way line Clewley started an arcing run with the Eastbourne defence drifting across, only to suddenly straighten and inject pace to shred the defence. Indeed, the line taken was so good that I cannot actually recall Eastbourne even attempting to tackle. Reilly converted again leaving a (finally!) well earned half-time score of 19 – 0.

Half Time: Heathfield lead 19 – 0

Heathfield knew that they had to improve on their continuity and better their support play to overcome the Eastbourne resistance and they did so immediately from the kick-off.

Eastbourne fielded the restart well and recycled through 2 phases but were going backwards. Eventually, Heathfield turned over the ball at a ruck and quickly moved the ball wide to find Alex Borg in the outside centre channel. Borg had a fast moving decoy runner on the inside, faked to make the pop and switched play with an “out-the-back-of-the-hand” pass to an equally rapidly moving Lewis Golding who burst through 2 tackles to score another converted try.

After 6 minutes, Eastbourne lost a player through injury and gamely continued with 14 players. However, the increased intensity from Heathfield coupled with the now man extra meant that Eastbourne were going to struggle from this point. And so it proved!

After 8 minutes, and with Eastbourne mounting a series of attacks on the Heathfield line, a 5m scrum was won by Heathfield against the head! Cramp fed Piers O’Conner who quickly shipped the ball to Reilly deep within the dead ball area. Reilly shaped to kick, faked the opposition and proceeded to run out of defence. Reilly made 30m before popping inside to the supporting O’Conner who immediately fed inside again to Clewley who made another 30m before releasing the looping O’Conner again. O’conner attacked the Eastbourne line, drew the defence and then fed the ball out again to a gaggle of forwards. Ross brilliantly took the pass one-handed and scored a converted try close to the posts. That was simply sensational play from Heathfield and took the score to 33 – 0.

Eastbournes heads were now dropping and Heathfield started to really make their player advantage count with some scintillating play. The pace of the game was very high, the level of support was superb and the display of deft handling unparalleled!

Having said all that, it was Eastbourne to score next when a good break down the left wing saw a scrambling Heathfield defence just keep Eastbourne out. However Eastbourne won the lineout and rumbled through a number of phases to score an unconverted try out wide.

With Eastbourne having just scored, Heathfield stamped out any thoughts of a revival when Clewley scored his third after a simple handling movement freed him on the wing. Reilly failed to convert and the excellent George Bending was brought off to protect a suspect groin injury. Clewley moved to inside centre after this and proceeded to cause havoc amongst the Eastbourne defence!

With the score now 38 – 5 and 15 minutes left of the match, Heathfield would have been (slightly) justified in a job well done. However, the players had different ideas and began to run riot!

O’Conner scored after getting hands on the ball 3 times in the movement.

Borg scored when Clewley broke clear, fed and looped and recycled the ball to Borg.

Captain Max Ellery just failed to score after a 60m run was stopped metres short, Golding was felled after breaking clean through with only the fullback to beat and finally Clewley scored his fourth of the day when quick hands involving forwards and backs saw another break down the wing. The match ended early with this final score taking the points beyond the 50 difference.

So, well done lads, that was the best handling and support display of the season with all players playing a huge part in gelling the team together!

Full Time: Heathfield win 57 – 5.

Team: Davies, Borg, Ellery, Ross, Smith J, Golding, Brown, Cramp, Burdett, O’Conner, Clewley, Bending, Lloyd, Parsons, Reilly, Watson, Shanley.