Ashford 15 Heathfield 26
Bonus point away wins are rare in this highly competitive league so Heathfield returned home to the town’s bonfire celebrations in good heart as the result keeps them in second place in the league.
The fixture list has been kind to Heathfield at the start of the season with three home games in the first four while Ashford had three away in that period. Given the decisive win by Ashford in the last game between these two sides nobody was making confident predictions about the outcome.
Conditions were good with a dry pitch on a mostly sunny day. Heathfield did have first use of the very slight slope and a little breeze although that seemed to turn to be across the pitch during the game so was not significant.
After some scrappy early exchanges Ashford opened the scoring with a penalty from a scrum but they rarely had much joy in that phase thereafter. Heathfield started to get into the game and a penalty gave them a good attacking position on the left hand side. Clinical lineout work and subsequent mauling allowed Jo Lewis to charge over for a try, duly converted by Tom Reilly.
A few minutes later skipper Gus Taylor had to retire after a knock to the head so Ollie Tooke joined the back row and did well. Neither side had control at this stage and in truth the game throughout was often scrappy with too many errors. Lucas Cuming was particularly noted for some thumping tackles in this period as Ashford often made threatening moves.
A penalty gave Ashford good field position and clean lineout ball was moved into midfield for a well-weighted chip to bounce nicely for one of their centres to canter over under the posts. Oddly the apparently simple conversion was fluffed – as were two similar chances by Heathfield.
Heathfield had the better of the last few minutes of the half. With five minutes left an easy Reilly penalty chance came back off the post and the home side were able to scramble the ball clear. However Heathfield kept the pressure on as a tap penalty was strongly carried on by Tom Tingley through several defenders before Aiden Plumley finished well – conversion missed!
An 8-12 scoreline at half time suggested that the game was in the balance. Heathfield were starting to have an edge in the scrummage while the lineout, after a couple of early Heathfield fumbles was generally even. Neither side dominated the breakdown and afterwards there was general appreciation of the referee’s consistent handling of this phase in particular and the game in general.
Heathfield started the second period impressively with some good handling coast to coast. This ended with George Hayter being tackled just short of the left hand corner and offloading to Toby Simpson who finished athletically by the corner flag (pictured) but the pass was called forward.
The game continued to be a scrappy affair. Heathfield Head Coach now made some tactical switches with Ben Irwin moving to fly half and Archie Adams coming on in the centre – where he made a couple of tasty runs. Soon afterwards Jack Pincus replaced Hayter with Tooke moving up to prop.
Ashford had been catching the referee’s eye too often at the start of the half and their fly half now took a team yellow for a breakdown infringement.
Heathfield were now naturally on the front foot and in one frantic period of play a try looked inevitable but somehow Tooke managed to throw the ball forward when over the line.
However soon afterwards justice was done as the Heathfield scrum turned over the home ball and Tingley dived over for a much-deserved try, this time converted. This proved to be the decisive score.
Ashford were a long way from being beaten and with ten minutes remaining some messy play ended with them working their way over in the left hand corner, very well converted to reduce the Heathfield lead to 4 points. (15-19)
However Heathfield dominated the last few minutes with good ball retention as they hammered away on the home try line. Eventually Tom Cornwall, who had his usual but nonetheless impactful game, worked his way over from short range for the bonus point try, duly converted by Simpson.
Both Heathfield second rows had excellent games with a try apiece. Lewis was superb in the lineout and Plumley is making many yards ball in hand. All four tries were scored by forwards which may give a slightly unbalanced impression of the game as the Heathfield back division often looked seriously threatening.
Heathfield are benefitting from a more secure scrummage than in recent years which can be partly ascribed to the return of the veteran Olly Smith who played the full 80 minutes today.
Next week Heathfield entertain old friends Charlton Park who today had a perhaps surprising win over Cranbrook given Park’s results so far this season. (19 Oct 3.00)

Statisticians note
The RFU results pages include a stats section which most people understandably never look at. However at present there is one point of interest regarding our league although we are not even a quarter of the way into the season so the figures are not necessarily conclusive.
Points Difference
Results are grouped according to the points difference – 1 to 7, 8 to 14, 15 to 20 and 21 upwards – plus of course any draws.
For the last two years the percentage of games ending with a points difference of 1 to 7 has been just under 25% i.e. a quarter of all games.
This season so far 18 of the 29 games played in our league have ended in this bracket, with one draw today, which is 65% i.e. almost 2/3rds. This suggests that the league is much more competitive than in previous years. Looking at other Counties 1 leagues on this basis, this is the most competitive league across the country.
Points Difference
Games Draw 1-7 8-14 15-20 21+
2024 YTD 29 3% 62% 10% 3% 21%
2023 130 4% 25% 15% 18% 38%
2022 131 0% 22% 24% 18% 36%