Heathfield 55 Maidstone 5
Heathfield collected a decisive nine tries to one win over Maidstone to confirm their third place in the league table. The packs were reasonably well matched but the home side were more adventurous out wide and by the end were running in tries for fun.
The first few minutes belonged to Maidstone as Heathfield dropped the kick off and the visitors had a period of pressure in the home 22. Both sides were making errors and the penalty count was rising. Initially the penalties were against Heathfield but this was gradually reversed and after 15 minutes Maidstone had collected 11 penalties so it was no surprise to see the referee having a warning word with the visiting skipper. It also says that this was a disjointed period of play.
Heathfield gradually worked their back up the field and were already looking more dangerous in the backs. Approaching the end of the first quarter good possession from an attacking scrum in midfield was moved left and Archie Adam still had plenty of work to do before finishing well in the corner. Adam went on the have a busy and very positive day.
Almost immediately afterwards a long kick out of defence by Maidstone was run back and good hands gave Jack Brown a chance on the right wing where he also finished well in the corner under the clubhouse balcony.
A few minutes later a penalty gave Heathfield attacking position on the visitors’ 22 and a couple of phases later Lars Thorkildsen ran a lovely line to burst through tackles and having the strength to finish in the corner.
The penalty count against the visitors had continued to tick up and it was no surprise when a visiting second row took a team yellow card for malpractice at the breakdown.
The set piece was fairly even with neither side having a clear edge. Heathfield’s coaches were particularly pleased with the performance by the front row of Fraser Goatcher, Sam Brown and Dan Bird who more than held their own against some seasoned campaigners in the tight and all contributed in the loose. The half time score of 15-0 looked ominous for the visitors as they had had the benefit of the conditions in the first half.
The second half opened with some bright handling by Heathfield as skipper Gus Taylor made the first line break down the slope and then good hands almost saw a score in the left hand corner. However in defending this attack the visitors’ right wing was caught offside so he replaced his colleague in the sin bin.
Heathfield duly exploited the numeric advantage and replacement Toby Simpson was the beneficiary in the bottom right hand corner for the bonus point try. Sean Crozier had missed the first three (difficult) conversions but he went on the nail the next five, some also from wide out. Crozier also made some thumping tackles.
Maidstone now had their best period in the game as they played to their strengths in the pack and worked their way into the home 22. Then good support play produced a deserved try on the left hand side.
All three home replacements were used and all did well. Ollie Tooke had a tough day at tight head against a much larger and seasoned performer – this is how props learn – but he also contributed with some good handling. Sam Goatcher added to the midfield mix where Crozier and Bryn Jones were playing some delightful rugby.
Heathfield more than doubled their score in the last quarter as defensive legs tired. On sixty minutes Munch May intercepted from a Maidstone lineout before finding some support from Oli Robertshaw who found F Goatcher who worked his way over. May had an excellent all round game against a wily old opponent.
S. Goatcher now had a challenging run into the home 22 but the ball was dislodged a few yards out. With ten minutes remaining good scrum ball was quickly moved wide left and Dion Comerford timed his run precisely to trot under the posts.
The last five minutes were the Tom Cornwall show as he collected three quite similar tries with dynamic running and agility breaking through tiring tackles. His contribution this season has been one of the highlights thus far. The first of the three was probably one of the team’s best this year as possession was just retained through multiple phases with almost all team members being involved before Cornwall charged through the last despairing tackles.
By that stage Maidstone will have been praying for the final whistle to go. They have a workmanlike pack but availability issues meant that they were always under pressure in the backs.
Heathfield will be disappointed with the slow start but the team worked its way out of trouble.
Heathfield retain third place in the table. Their next opponents are Pulborough at home (13 Nov 2.30). They had a surprising win against Southwark Lancers today which is much against the run of results thus far. I noted last week that the Lancers are likely to have very variable results because of their selection situation so not too much should be deduced from this outcome. Nonetheless Pulborough will arrive in good heart so Heathfield will want an emphatic performance to assert their league superiority.