Heathfield produced a workmanlike performance to overcome a nuggety Gillingham team who belied their lowly league position. The result keeps Heathfield in a pleasing third place but with Dover and Deal snapping at their heels.
The day was notable as the last working day for Heathfield bar steward Tony Clegg after twenty years in the role. His cheery and welcoming demeanour have made a big impression on members and visitors alike and his absence will be much noted.
After multiple pitch inspections it was finally decided that the Wilson-Rhodes pitch was playable. Nonetheless the surface was very soft in places and thus provided a surface which negated faster runners. Conditions were otherwise good for late February with a breeze of no significance and unusually an increasing amount of sunshine.
Heathfield started brightly. Soon a lineout in the visitors’ 22 was driven on and then worked through several phases before Sam Walley crashed through tackles for his now-customary try. Toby Simpson converted.
Gillingham have had some decent results recently so it was no surprise when they almost immediately replied. A Heathfield penalty helped their progress into the home 22 and they had some sustained pressure near the try line before working their way over from short range, also converted. Lucas Cuming now had to retire with a painful ankle injury.
Heathfield had much the better of the rest of the half. Most of the play was in the visitors’ half and the penalty count against them rose steadily. At one stage it was 3-10 against Gillingham with a significant proportion being for high tackles. Some observers were surprised at the lack of a yellow card at this point.
Simpson duly knocked over four of the penalties to stretch the lead to 19-7. Some would have liked to see a more adventurous approach but skipper Jo Lewis clearly had a healthy respect for the opposition and took the points available. One Heathfield attack in broken play looked to have ended with a try but it was called back for a forward pass.
Given the home team’s majority possession in this period, the Gillingham defence did well to keep their line intact.
The set piece was a mixed bag for both sides. The Heathfield lineout had an excellent day with maybe just one fumble while the visitors’ equivalent was frequently fallible, especially in the first half. By contrast the Gillingham scrum was very solid and earned a couple of penalties on the Heathfield put-in while always securing their own ball.
As a rule we do not mention the referee in these reports but I am bound to note that the Gillingham kicker managed to fire his second half restart directly at the official thus necessitating another restart.
Gillingham started the second period strongly with the benefit of some penalties against Heathfield. However the home defence did what was needed.
Both sides were now kicking much of their possession with mixed results. After 15 minutes of the half one such exchange ended with a Heathfield attack on the right-hand side before quick recycled ball was worked wide for Simpson to touch down near the left hand corner. He then slotted the less-than-easy conversion. The visitors’ outside centre was now binned for some infraction in that play but I’m not clear what.
For the rest of the game I made very few notes as most of the game was in midfield with little noteworthy incident. Gillingham probably had more possession but neither side were able to make any significant penetration. The conditions were probably playing to Gillingham strengths with their rucking being especially effective.
The game did become scrappy with one minor outbreak of handbags. Harry Slinnhawkins was binned in one incident but again I have received contradictory accounts as to why. Essentially, for all the efforts by both sides, this was a quickly forgettable half of rugby with the pitch being chiefly responsible.
Given the relative league positions some may have been expecting a big Heathfield win. However this is a highly competitive league and Gillingham showed how they are well worth their place in it and are scrapping for every available league point.
Head Coach Sam Goatcher mentioned Walley, Aiden Plumley, George Hayter and Harry Westgate along with skipper Jo Lewis who certainly caught my eye not only with his play but also his captaincy which is growing in stature.
Heathfield’s 2nd team, the Rangers had a comfortable 59-10 win over Crawley 2 with plenty of people pushing for a first team position.
Next week Heathfield will have to be operating at a higher level when they visit Old Elthamians who are the unbeaten league leaders (7 Mar 3.00).