Deal just held on at the end of this hard-fought and entertaining Counties 1 Kent league match as Heathfield finished the stronger but could not quite recover from a disappointing first half.
Conditions were good on a dry day with no significant wind. The Deal pitch is slightly smaller than some and it had a fair grass covering over a rather bumpy but firm surface as expected given the current lack of rain.
The two team sheets showed an unusually wide age discrepancy with the Deal starting 15 being on average 8 years older than Heathfield.
Most of the first half was played in the visitors’ half as Deal enjoyed majority possession based on solid set piece.
Deal collected a penalty after about ten minutes which was a fair reflection of the run of play. The home backs always looked dangerous during this half with their fly half Ollie Best controlling the game well.
Approaching the end of the first quarter Aaron Stonell had to retire hurt, replaced by Ollie Smith. At this stage the game was something of a dogfight in midfield with neither side being in complete control.
In hindsight the game was probably decided in the last five minutes of the half. First good hands from a solid Deal scrum was moved through several phases before a centre worked his way over. Then in the last moments of the half a Deal driving maul was allegedly pulled down resulting in a yellow card for Sam Walley and a penalty try.
The half time score of 15-0 was unpromising. However neither side was dominating the set piece and Heathfield now had the benefit of the very slight slope. For whatever reason Heathfield had a much better second half, albeit just falling short in the end.
Early in the second half Heathfield were put on the front foot through a massive 50-22 kick by Harry Westgate. This was followed by a promising attack into the left hand corner. Although this was just foiled the referee now binned a Deal replacement, possibly for a bad high tackle.
Shortly before the end of the ten minutes for the card, secure lineout ball was moved into midfield and Jay Massy-Taylor evaded several tackles to collect a deserved try under the posts. However confusion over the kicking tee meant that Toby Simpson had to rush the conversion which came back off the underside of the crossbar.
Massey-Taylor was then instrumental with another Heathfield attack from deep ending with Tom Aldridge collecting a fine try on the left hand side, this time converted by Simpson.
With about 15 minutes remaining and a scoreline of 15-12 the outcome was far from clear. Deal were perhaps roused with a game that they had appeared to be controlling starting to slip away and they charged back into the visitors’ left-hand corner. They then turned over a breakdown for the ball to be moved into midfield and worked over near the posts, with the easy conversion giving them a ten point lead.
This was the start of a frantic last few minutes as Heathfield sensed an opportunity to snatch a result with their younger legs looking to have an edge over their more mature opponents. One attack was just denied in the shadow of the home posts by a penalty for holding on but they came again and this time were rewarded with a penalty, duly knocked over by Simpson.
At 22-15 Heathfield at least had a losing bonus point but clearly sensed an opportunity for more. A long kickout of defence was well followed up and resulted in an attacking lineout in the left-hand corner. Just as the prospect of a lineout catch and drive was being savoured, which would have resulted in a potentially match-drawing try, the throw was adjudged not straight – and that was that.
On balance Deal deserved the result based mainly on their first half performance but equally Heathfield were worth at least their consolation losing bonus point. It will be no surprise if these two sides are very close in the league table at the end of the season.
Massey-Taylor always looked dangerous ball in hand and was especially picked out afterwards along with Simpson who had a busy but generally effective day at full back. In the forwards Walley (apart from his yellow) was particularly noted for his efforts at close quarters with Hayter and Aldrich also getting positive mentions.
Next week Heathfield entertain Dover who had a good win today and who are another side where a close contest is anticipated. (18 Oct 3.00)