Strong start by Deal makes the difference

Deal 32 Heathfield 25
Deal secured a five try to three win over Heathfield in this well-contested Counties 1 Kent league match. Deal collected an early lead and just about held off the visitors’ efforts thereafter. Contests between these two sides are always close: Heathfield will be glad to have collected one bonus point and feel disappointed not to have secured at least one more.
Deal started strongly and soon had an attacking scrum in the right hand corner, Solid possession allowed their number 8 to charge over for the opening score, well converted by their fly half Oli Best.
Heathfield immediately showed their intentions with some good hands with Liam Dunjley making a useful run down the left flank.
However mostly through scrum pressure Deal were generally on the front foot and after 15 minutes solid scrum ball was well exploited on the right hand side for another try, this time unconverted.
This was immediately countered by some climically efficient rugby by Heathfield. A penalty gave good field position in the left hand corner and secure lineout possession was driven over for Rob Lawrence to claim the score. Toby Simpson comverted well.
This report is being written under arduous conditions on a noisy coach in poor light with loud music and reportedly naked bodies although the physio tells me it's nothing she hasn't seen before.
The game was now well In the balance. Good turnover ball was worked right and Tom Cornwall seemed to be put clear by Simpson but the pass was adjudged forward, There had been a number of close calls about forward passes so far in the game so Heathfield may well have felt that they were not getting the rub of the green on the day but these things tend to even out.
With just 5 minutes left in the half Deal collected their third try as they turned over a scrum and moved the ball wide right for a good try. (20 7)
There was still time for Heathfield to charge back upfield and a tap penalty chance looked promising but it was adjudged to have been taken behind the ref's back. Sadly ill-judged comments then led to the reversal of the penalty. Nonetheless a few momemts later another good Heathfield counter attack produced a penalty and this time the three points were duly collected for a half time score of 20-10.
While Deal had an initial advantage in the scrum thereafter Heathfield mostly secured their own ball, albeit often under pressure with no 8 Tom Tinglay and scrum half Harry Westgate doing well to secure possession. Both sides generally took their own lineout ball.
Early on in the second half Harry Slinn-Hawkins made a fine cross-field positional kick to put his side on the front foot and a penalty soon followed (20-13).
However in a significant moment, the restart was dropped enabling Deal to take up a good attacking position and soon their effective fly half/inside centre combination produced a good try, duly converted (27-13).
Deal soon had another penalty chance but it went wide. Then a penalty gave Heathfield a good attacking opportunity on the left hand side but the resulting lineout was muffed.
However this was soon followed by one of the best visitors’ moments on the day as Slinn-Hawkins just kept a home kick out of defence in play and the ball was moved wide right with Simpson providing the necessary injection of pace into the corner linking with several pairs of hands before Simpson himself finished. (27-18).
With just over ten minutes remaining Heathfield were now playing with confidence and an unlikely result looked possible but such ideas were soon squashed as a simple kick out of defence in their own 22 was charged down by a home second row who duly followed up to claim the try.
Heathfield were now further handicapped by a yellow for Slinn-Hawkins for some unnecessary backchat. In spite of this Heathfield generally had the better of the last few minutes. They were particularly heartened by a remarkable 50/22 kick by skipper Tom Cornwall to give them a good attacking position. A few phases later Jo Lewis capped another excellent hard-working game by muscling his way over from short range. The Simpson conversion meant that a losing bonus point was now on the cards. In the last moments, Heathfield tried for another bonus point for a fourth try but time ran out.
Cornwall and Jem Macvicker were particularly mentioned afterwards for their contributions on the day. Heathfield now have a highly mobile back five in the scrum and if some more stability can be achieved up front then they will trouble any team in the league.
Results elsewhere today reinforced the idea that this league is breaking into two divisions with perhaps four clubs contesting the dubious honour of promotion to the Regional league while the rest of us are in a close contest to avoid the likely three relegation slots.
Next week, after the club’s Christmas dinner, Heathfield entertain Dover who are just above Heathfield in the league so a good contest looks likely. (9 Dec 2.00pm)