Park House 12 Heathfield 38
Heathfield played some of their best rugby of the season to collect a bonus point away win at Park House in difficult conditions. Park House has often been a bogey side for Heathfield so this was a pleasing result on several levels.
The pitch was firm underneath but with a slippery surface which became progressively worse as the rain fell steadily throughout the game. As the pictures show all of the players became coated in the mud and shirt colours became impossible to distinguish.
The strong wind was across the pitch but slightly towards the bottom corner. Park House chose to play up the slope and into the wind initially. Normally this is a sound decision but today it back fired as the deterioration of the pitch handicapped them in mounting an effective response to what proved to be a decisive first half by the visitors.
The first half was completely dominated by Heathfield with probably their best rugby of the season in spite of the conditions. Nick Cook opened the scoring when he charged down a kick out of defence in the home 22 and then recovered the ball to dive over near the posts.
A few minutes later Harry Reilly kicked into the bottom corner and when that was returned to him he initiated a handling move which ended with hooker Dan Bird giving a sweet pass to Toby Simpson on the right wing who had the gas to canter over behind the posts. Reilly’s kicking in this half was instrumental in keeping the home side pinned back in their own 22.
Soon afterwards Jack Morgan extended the lead to 0-17 with a straightforward penalty. Morgan had a happy 100% day with the boot as he also converted all of Heathfield’s tries.
The visitors’ next try came when left wing Dan Jones intercepted and then gratefully raced down the touchline.
The best try of the day was then scored after excellent handling by Sam Crichton, Fraser Goatcher and Munch May (there may have been others) and Morgan exuberantly dived over beneath the posts.
Just after the half hour a home lineout went wrong and the ball went to Cook who needed no further invitation as the home side seemed to wait for the whistle while Cook was strolling over the try line.
The half ended with more Heathfield pressure on the home try line but Crichton was adjudged to have been held up.
The Heathfield scrummage had a clear edge in this half although that levelled out in the second period. The visitors also shaded the lineout initially but as the game progressed this phase became a lottery with the strong wind and a greasy ball.
However the most pleasing element for Heathfield’s coaches was the support running and accurate inter-passing which would have troubled most teams. This half was one of Heathfield’s best performances this season and the question was whether the home side would be able to respond to what looked a decisive lead.
This looked to be a very debatable question when after five minutes the home side achieved good field position in the left hand corner and their pack duly rumbled over for a try, albeit unconverted.
However for the next half hour Heathfield generally contained their opponents and indeed much of the game was at the other end although another visitors’ score never looked likely. The conditions increasingly handicapped any creative play by either side and the Heathfield defence always looked to be able to nullify the home attacks. Jeyden Rainbow was especially praised by Head Coach Dave Cook for his defensive work in this period.
Sam Shillabeer, Fergus Keegan and Tom Watkins came off the bench with Keegan being especially commended for his efforts.
Although the elements were more in the home side’s favour, Heathfield were managing to achieve some good forward momentum with Goatcher making several useful carries.
As an indication of the difficulties for the players, May had to retire with fifteen minutes remaining with mud in his eyes. By this stage the pitch had degraded to the extent that Heathfield were able to play the rest of the game a man short without looking in serious trouble.
Park House did manage a final forward rumble for a consolation score but the outcome of the game had long been decided.
Towards the end one visiting spectator (there weren’t many of us) commented that the referee had more mud on him than at least one of the home side. This reflects well on the referee who had an unobtrusive but effective game on a day when conditions would have made life difficult for players at any level. Heathfield have not always had happy experiences with referees in Barnet Wood Road but this young man had an excellent game.
This result moves Heathfield into mid-table and will come as no surprise to those who have seen the team develop through the season.
Next week Heathfield entertain Vigo to whom they lost by one point in an entertaining game in November (22 Feb 2.30).