Heathfield held on to collect a narrow win over Dover in this Counties 1 Kent league match with the result always in doubt. Dover had just lost the equivalent fixture in September and were just behind Heathfield in the league table so this had promised, and delivered, a close contest.
Conditions were excellent for December with a firm dry pitch taking a stud and no significant wind – there was even some occasional sunshine.
Quite apart from the result Dover scored highly as hosts with an excellent Xmas meal for the players, also enjoyed by our pleasantly surprised coach driver. Mind you he needed to be understanding over the next couple of hours. I soon turned off my hearing aids on the return trip.
Dover played up the slight slope initially. – this element was a factor but not a decisive one on the day.
Tom Tingley had to retire early on although he returned later on without being hundred percent. Will Wallis replaced Tingley and did well. Early on Dover looked to be winning the collisions as well as having a strong scrum so it looked like a difficult afternoon.
After ten minutes Heathfield just secured possession from a scrum and retained possession through repeated phases before Joe Lewis worked his way over from short range for the opening try, duly converted by Toby Simpson . Lewis is steadily working his way up the try scoring table.
Soon afterwards Simpson picked up loose ball from a messy situation in midfield and stepped through the defence for a fine solo score, inevitably duly converted.
The 0-14 score line was slightly misleading at this stage as the visitors’ scrum was under severe pressure and the lineout was having another day to forget.
Games between these two teams are rarely one-sided so it was no surprise when solid set piece work took play into the visitors’ half and then good lineout ball was moved into midfield where one missed tackle allowed a simple finish under the posts (7-14).
Dover now threatened into the top right hand corner and their scrum half made a tasty break from another strong scrum but this was just contained. When it looked likely that the visitors would now drive over from the resulting scrum the visitors somehow disrupted possession and the threat was nullified.
In the last few moments of the half good hands took Heathfield back down to the home 22 and a penalty allowed Simpson to collect what eventually proved to be the difference between the two sides. (7-17). Nonetheless normally knowledgeable spectators felt that the 10 point lead would not be enough given the slope in the home team’s favour to come.
However early in the half Simpson made another and probably decisive intervention with a spectacular solo score from half way running around tacklers before finishing in the right hand corner. Naturally the not straight-forward conversion was no problem. When it’s your day…
Dover replied almost immediately with pressure chiefly through their strong scrum giving them good position into the bottom right hand corner. Eventually they worked their way over from short range (14-24).
Most of the rest of the game consisted of Dover majority possession with stout Heathfield defence and several important turnovers including one by George Hayter, leading to occasional break outs. The home scrum domination had been nullified as Olly Smith had arrived to settle this phase down.
Entering the last 15 minutes Dover had a strong attacking position in the bottom right hand corner and although it appeared that Heathfield had secured a critical turnover Chris Baker-Butler was now binned for some misbehaviour.
Naturally Dover hammered away in that corner and it was afterwards generally agreed that a massive tackle by Ollie Tooke just inside the corner flag had saved a certain try and was probably the decisive moment. Tooke also had a fine all round game.
Dover continued to press into the corner and did cross the line in a heap of bodies but were adjudged to have been held up.
The resulting drop out was taken from too far behind the try line and hit the underside of the crossbar, bouncing kindly into the surprised and delighted grasp of a home front rower who gratefully accepted an early Christmas present. The conversion left a three point difference with less than ten minutes remaining. Incidentally, all 7 kicks at goal were successful today.
The last few minutes were tense with all results possible but Heathfield looked increasingly comfortable and the whistle finally went.
The home coaches gave credit to their front five who had a generally strong day while the Heathfield management, apart from the obvious mentions for Simpson and Tooke, also noted Ben Irwin’s effective contribution.
Heathfield’s away record has been poor in recent seasons so this was a welcome outcome against a side who are always difficult to beat at home which will need to be followed up in the New Year.
Next week Heathfield entertain their nearest and dearest (?) neighbours Crowborough who just won the equivalent fixture at the start of this season and who are close behind in the league table. (21 Dec 2.00)