Burgess Hill 11 Heathfield B's 10

A depleted squad of just 15 players made the trip to Burgess Hill and endured an afternoon of frustration and disappointment. The home side were at full strength with a full squad of 23 selected on the day from a much larger pool of players and sensed the opportunity to cause an upset. Heathfield fielded a scratch side with five of their number playing out of their normal positions and it was always going to be a disjointed spectacle.
And so it proved from the first moments as Burgess Hill pressed to the 22, the Heathfield forwards were caught offside at the breakdown and the resultant simple penalty was converted.
Stunned into action Heathfield raced after the restart and after a period of forward pressure with good work form props Bruno Halit and Ben Smith the home side conceded a scrum 25 metres out. A solid drive created quick ball for fly half Matt Barber to have time to change the line of attack to the blind side where he stepped the on-rushing flanker and powered past the full back to score under the posts. Barber also added the conversion and the visitors were up and running.
The rest of the half was played largely in midfield where the heavier Burgess Hill pack gained good possession only to be turned over by the hard work of the Heathfield forwards, notably Jonnie Welch and Jack Smith. Good distribution from Kieran Burdett and some excellent kicking out of hand from Barber could not hide the fact that Heathfield lacked a punch out wide and despite some incisive running from centre Joe Sandford there was little reward for their domination.
The frustration levels grew with the number of niggling infringements and a series of penalties allowed the home side to use their weight advantage to batter through the Heathfield defences and regain the lead with a try from close range which although unconverted left the home side one point ahead at half time.
The second half was little better for Heathfield who spent over 25 minutes on the Burgess Hill 22, probing and testing the home side’s defence which to their credit was heroic at times. Bruno Halit was unlucky to have a try disallowed and it looked as though it was not going to be Heathfield’s day until with two minutes left to play a Burgess Hill forward was caught on the wrong side at the breakdown and the visitors were awarded a penalty which could decide the game. Up stepped Matt Barber to coolly slot the kick and put the visitors back in control.
All that was now needed was to play down the clock and stay in control. However the next few moments had to be seen to be believed. From the re-start Heathfield gathered possession, went into contact with the ball and for a reason which remains a mystery were penalised out wide on the ten metre line. The Burgess Hill kicker bravely stepped up to attempt the kick and was unlucky not to find the distance with the ball falling short ten metres out. All that was needed was for the ball to be passed to the Heathfield fly half to hoof into touch and that would be that. Instead the Heathfield forwards attempted to run the ball out of defence, became isolated and were stripped of possession by a home side desperate for one last chance. And so it came as the ball was recycled, passed out to the Burgess Hill inside centre who launched a low, untidy but incredibly successful drop goal from outside the 22. In dramatic fashion Burgess Hill claimed their first ever victory over Heathfield at this level and were rightly ecstatic. By contrast Heathfield were left to contemplate what might have been, the fact that you cannot expect results with a skeleton squad and that in the heat of battle, sometimes a cool head is needed to grind out a result.
Despite the result there were some good performances – Jack Smith showed an excellent attitude to the game and was dominant in the lineout, skipper Matt Barber showed real skill in handling and touch kicking but for a performance of sheer force and passion the Heathfield man of the match was No. 8 Jonnie Welch.
Try M. Barber
Con M. Barber
Pen M Barber

Squad
B Smith, J Fellows, B Halit, D Pennell, A Benson, J Smith, H Vidler, J Welch
K Burdett, M Barber, G Ball, J Sandford, J Higgens, M Shanley, R Taylor.