At the end of a long campaign the Heath Colts, who remain unbeaten in Sussex this season having already won the Colts Sussex Premier Division, faced the Brighton Blues Colts at Whitemans Green in the 2022/23 County Final. With standing water on the pitch following nearly 12 hours of rain, conditions were tough for both sides, but the teams managed to serve up a spectacle worthy of the occasion.

The first half saw Heath playing down the hill and very quickly into their game plan with ball in hand being run back at Brighton at every opportunity. A dominant Heath pack controlled the tempo of the match and the home side should have been a couple of tries up in the first quarter and were just lacking a bit of composure near the try line. Heath eventually got on the board after more good work from the ever aggressive pack saw them touch down after a pick and go out wide, appropriately with skipper Otto Serjeant emerging with the ball for 5-0.

Heath continued to press with Brighton only managing to get out of their own half twice throughout the first half but somehow their spirited defence hung on and repelled the repeated Heath attacks.

Turning round to play down the hill and only conceding once seemed to empower the Blues Colts and they came out all guns firing in the second half with Heath now under the pump up front. A catch and drive from a line out in the Heath 22 saw the Brighton forwards drive over for their own score which was expertly converted from the touchline for a 5-7 score with only five minutes of the second half gone.

Whilst the game was now evenly poised Heath started to move the ball around running well out of defence and showing some lovely interlinking play between backs and forwards. A yellow card against Brighton for an infringement in their own 22 was soon exploited by Heath as they drove down the narrow side through their forwards where Toby Vander broke from the base of the ruck and crashed over. Ed Hartley stepped up and slotted the kick for the extras from out wide and it was 12-7 with 20 minutes to play.

Heath weathered another spell of Brighton pressure and counter attacked themselves with more slick passing carving open the Blues defence. A grubber kick through wasn't fielded by the Brighton defence allowing Hartley to fly hack through gather his own kick and touch down cleanly for 17 - 7.

Brighton were not finished and hit back with another try from a sweeping move which was converted for 17 -14 to make the final period a nervy affair. The Heath forwards showed some good game management to play out the last couple of minutes with some pick and go rugby in their own 22 to run the clock down until the final whistle.

This was a great game of rugby, particularly given conditions, with both sides showing huge levels of commitment on the park but played in a really good spirit. Medals and trophies were presented by Sussex RFU at the end of the game to both sides.

This was the first time that the Heath Colts had managed the League and Cup double for a number of years probably hailing back to the days when Joe Marler and Billy Twelvetrees were part of an all conquering Heath Colts side - the Heath coaches are hoping that these Colts provide a boost to the senior squad for next season as the Club looks to move forward on and off the pitch, particularly with the development of our new clubhouse.