Eventually Heathfield cruised to a crushing eight tries to three win over neighbours Cranbrook but the scoreline does not reflect the closeness of the contest – at least until half time.
Conditions were remarkably good for early December. The pitch had dried out from being waterlogged last weekend but the claggy Sussex clay still made it a cloying surface. With no significant wind on a cloudless day the sun was welcome but nonetheless made life difficult for catchers of a high ball – and sometimes for the referee.
Cranbrook had first use of the slight slope but within ten minutes they were two tries down from similar scenarios. In both cases a visitors’ lineout was turned over or ruined and good ball then moved wide for first Charlie Hannan and then Toby Simpson to collect a try apiece. Both converted by Simpson.
Cranbrook then had a period of pressure into the bottom right hand corner. In a succession of scrums near the home try line, with increasing dominance, they really should have scored but somehow the gutsy home defence did enough and eventually the ball was dropped in midfield and pressure was relieved. Tom Cornwall made a big run to take play up to the other end and recycled ball was moved into midfield for Ben Irwin to dive over under the posts.
At 21-0 after 25 minutes it might have seemed that the game was only going one way. However two factors now became significant – the visitors’ front row were causing any amount of problems for the home scrum and the penalty count against Heathfield was steadily rising.
Cranbrook were showing that they were far from beaten and pressed into the home 22 with the referee issuing a final warning to Heathfield skipper Jo Lewis. From the very next lineout George Hayter was adjudged to have joined a maul from the side and a yellow inevitably followed.
While the next Cranbrook attack was just denied when held up over the line, soon afterwards they worked their way over from short range to open their account. Then in the last play of the half sustained pressure into the bottom corner was finally rewarded as some good inter-passing produced another try. Simpson then had an unrewarding exchange with the referee on a technical point of the laws and he was duly binned.
With the slope to come in their favour the half time score line of 21-12 will not have looked too threatening for Heathfield. However Cranbrook then upset any complacency with a sustained attack across the pitch ending with a good try on the left hand side.
The conversion reduced the home lead to just two points. However (cliché warning!) that was the end of the good news for the visitors. First an attacking visitors’ scrum went wrong and Hannan scooped up the loose ball to make a massive run down the left flank before a superb cover tackle by the Cranbrook left wing in the loom of the posts denied him. A penalty relieved the pressure at the resulting breakdown.
The context of the game had changed as the visitors’ scrum was no longer causing problems, the home side were not leaking penalties – and, eye-catchingly, the home backs were starting to cut loose, seemingly unconcerned by the slow surface.
Nonetheless, the next home try came from a standard lineout catch and drive with Olly Smith the beneficiary. Then good handling put Jay Massey-Taylor into space and he had too much gas for the defence. Cranbrook were then handicapped by a yellow for one of their second row for a tip tackle.
Sam Walley then capped his decent day’s work with a deserved try from a lineout drive, followed almost immediately by Massey-Taylor happily exploiting a turned-over lineout.
Finally a challenging run by Simpson into the bottom corner was ended by a precise chip ahead for Harry Slinnhawkins to regather skilfully and complete the scoring.
While most of the Heathfield tries were collected by the three-quarters, they were based on hard graft by the forwards. Archie Adams, out of position on the flank, caught my eye with his repeated dynamic tackling, well backed up by Cornwall and Walley. Irwin is having a fruitful season at half back while many mentioned Hannan and Massey-Taylor for their contributions on the day.
The home coaches will have taken note of the negative penalty count (13-3) in the first half today which could have cost their side dearly. Hopefully they will have learnt from today’s arbiter Billy Huntley who will probably be one of the best encountered all season.
The Cranbrook Coach gave rightful mention to his two props, Callam Hall and Jake Hardcastle for their effectiveness which did much to keep his side competitive for so long – and he also gave credit to his scrum half Max Wookey on an increasingly difficult day for his team.
There will also have been some quiet (ok maybe not so quiet) satisfaction in the result from the Heathfield Rangers 7-71 win away against Crawley 2. This revitalised team is now a valued environment for potential or ‘resting’ 1st team players.
Next week Heathfield visit Crowborough. One should at least give credit to the often much-maligned authorities who ensure that the last fixture before Christmas involves as little travelling as possible. Relative league positions are of no account in this fixture between these nearest neighbours (20 Dec 2.00)