Sussex Colts Cup Round One

This was round 1 of the Sussex Colts Cup, played on a cold but dry day on a Cypress field pitch in absolutely top condition!

Brighton kicked off into what little breeze there was and immediately forced Heathfield onto the back foot with good work from both forwards and backs. Indeed, the Brighton players all looked to be well drilled and definitely primed for the match.

Heathfield did not help themselves during the next 10 minutes of sustained Brighton pressure with simple errors for offside, in front of the kicker (really?) and lineout gremlins but Heathfield eventually managed to ease themselves into the Brighton half and exert some pressure of their own. Harry Reilly put boot to ball early in this phase and pinned Brighton to the bottom corner of the pitch. Brighton tried to run the ball out but Max Ellery stripped the Brighton player of the ball in the tackle and set up an excellent counter attacking position for Heathfields backs. The ball was moved quickly to the opposite wing where the powerful Harry Clewley fended one tackle and dived in to score in the corner. Reilly converted excellently from wide out for Heathfield to take a slightly surprising lead 7 – 0.

Heathfield maintained this pressure and caused Brighton to play “hasty” rugby with a few dropped passes and shoddy work at the breakdown. This allowed Heathfield to dominate with excellent work from the forwards and some exciting play from the backs. Reilly varied the game and some testing kicks were taken by the Brighton defence but Heathfield looked to be in full control. Unfortunately, this dominance only provided another 3 points when Reilly kicked a superb penalty from 20m out and close to touch to take the score to 10 – 0.

Brighton seemed to get pricked by this score and there followed a passage of play when everything Brighton did was rewarded positively. Brighton attacked deep into the Heathfield half and after 26 mins, setup an attacking scrum 8m out. The play came infield and a simple switch move found a huge hole in the Heathfield defence caused by a dog-leg in the backline. Brighton scored a converted try under the posts to take the score to 10 – 7. Game on!

Brighton maintained the shift in the balance of play and attacked strongly again. It was Heathfields turn to play shoddy rugby. Bad body positioning and a lack of commitment at the breakdown allowed Brighton to take control and a number of infringements, dropped passes and bad decisions kept Heathfield pinned deep in their half.

After 33mins. Brighton made full use of their dominance when they scored another converted try from a scrum. This time a cut back move close to the scrum found another hole where the back row had come across too quickly and allowed an easy looking but well worked score.

The signs were now ominous with Brighton enjoying the better half both on the pitch and on the scoreboard. The half-time whistle went shortly after this score and the team talk was all about commitment, support and playing simple rugby!

Half Time: Heathfield down 10 – 14

Heathfield kicked off and attacked strongly into the Brighton half. After 5 mins of sustained pressure, a chip through from Reilly forced the Brighton fullback to take the ball into the dead ball area and touch down. However Brighton were rewarded when, even whilst both packs were setting themselves for a 5m scrum, the referee signaled a 22m drop out – yes it did take that long! Brighton, quicker in thought and deed cleared downfield and won the chase but they still had work to do and drove hard into the corner. However, Heathfields forwards won a dramatic turnover on their own line and fed the ball out. Clewley decided to run the ball out from behind his goal line (to be fair it was a risky option but if he had beaten his man there was no cover defence and 3 players outside him) and was tackled and stripped of the ball allowing a Brighton player to fall on the ball to score! The try, being under the posts, was converted taking the score to 10 – 21 and Heathfield were now deep in trouble!

Brighton maintained the pressure for the next 20mins with Heathfield losing out at the breakdown and also at most lineouts with Brighton not being penalised for blatent inaccurate throwing and pulling down of Heathfield jumpers. The only area of dominance was at the scrum where the Brighton front row were popping up (and NOT being penalised?) at every scrum due to poor binding and body positions.

Heathfield weathered the barrage of attacks from Brighton and surprisingly, after 25 minutes, put together a series of phases that was sadly lacking in the previous 40 minutes of play! Even though the attack stopped with another dropped ball it was, along with the referee signaling 10 minutes of play left, just the spark Heathfield needed.

Excellent driving play from Alex Borg and Ellery freed Clewley down the wing where he fended off a couple of tackles to score near the corner. Reilly missed with the kick leaving Heathfield 6 points adrift, at 15 – 21 with about 8 minutes left.

From the kick-off Heathfield drove again and a stunned Brighton found themselves defending frantically back in their own half. A ruck was won midfield and about 30m out with the ball spun to the right. This time Heathfield had the “deadly” blindside pod available with the ball moving quickly through the hands of Borg, Ellery and Henry Ross. Ross was caught right by the touchline but managed to pop the ball back in for the supporting Ellery to feed Freddy Jones with 8m to make. Jones, as he has proved almost every match this season, is unstoppable from this distance and took 2 Brighton defenders with him to score wide out. Reilly had a big kick to take the lead and it really never looked in doubt from the moment it left his boot to take Heathfield back into the lead at 22 – 21 with 7 minutes left to play!

What a pulsating finish we had in store and it wasn’t to end there!

Heathfield fielded the ball and cleverly moved the ball wide but Brighton countered and won turnover ball. Brighton chipped through and, after a bit of a fumble, Clewley eventually received the ball 15m inside his own half. Clewley, again showing his strength and pace, beat the first-up tackler and sped up the line. He was eventually caught 15m out and flicked the ball back inside to the supporting Piers O’Conner who cantered in under the posts. However, the referee called play back for a forward pass, something even the vociferous Brighton parents and coaches were a bit embarrassed about, and set a scrum. Heathfield were however now the team in ascendancy and controlled the final few minutes of the game.

Yet again, Heathfield played in a pulsating match with the lead, and dominance, switching repeatedly throughout the match. If, and it’s a big IF, Heathfield could maintain the “good” bits throughout a match they would be positively lethal!

So, a hard fought win against the toughest opposition of the season so far sees Heathfield home by 1 point and into the next round of the cup!

Full Time: Heathfield win 22 – 21.

Team: Golding, Borg, Ellery, Ross, Vater, Bayly, Warren, Brown, Burdett, Reilly, Hastings, O’Conner, Lloyd, Clewley, Koops, Davies, Smith, Jones.