U16s
Matches
Sun 14 Oct 2018
Haywards Heath RFC | Since 1958
U16s
Tries: L Macaulay
5
21
Lewes
Heath V Lewes

Heath V Lewes

Zoe Collins15 Oct 2018 - 05:14
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Heath lose on a gloomy day

A rather damp and miserable day at Whitemans Green reflected the Heath performance.

In all fairness, Heath were plagued again by injuries and unavailability, compounded by prop Daniel Grant being forced off early in the first half. This further disrupted the Heath scrum, which is usually one of their key offensive weapons and it took their no. 8, Bobby Collins, one of the team’s main strike runners, into the front row which in turn prevented him from being so dominant in the loose.

That said, Lewes settled into the game quicker than Heath with the opening score under the posts courtesy of a number of missed tackles from Heath. The conversion then made it a swift 0-7 to Lewes.

However, Heath struck back fairly promptly with another expertly finished try by Liam Macaulay to mirror his score from last week. The conversion was missed and so it was 5-7 to Lewes as half time approached.

Last week Heath had a very fortuitous kick through which led to a score. This week the boot was literally on the other foot, as a hack through from Lewes fell into the grateful arms of one of their players who then sprinted under the posts with virtually the last play of the half. The conversion then made it 5-14 to Lewes at half time, slightly flattering Lewes as the first half had been fairly even.

It was again Lewes who started the second half as the brighter side and they maintained this dominance with Heath finding themselves camped in their own 22 for most of the rest of the game. This eventually led to a score after a number of arms went up for the ball and the referee ultimately deciding that it was a Heath hand that knocked it back with the ball going loose for one of the Lewes players to pounce on for the score. This was again virtually under the posts to facilitate a simple conversion. Irrespective of who’s hand the ball came off, the final score of 5-21 to Lewes was a fair reflection of territory and possession in the second half.

The positives for Heath from the second half was the quality of their defence who, notwithstanding the one score, stood firm under constant second half pressure.

Heath appear to have a habit of deciding which games they intend to rise for and after last week’s fine performance, it looked like they decided not to flick the switch for this one. There were some excellent individual performances, particularly from Lewis Goodall who was the coaches’ man of the match however, the team as a whole appeared a little disjointed. This was particularly evident at ruck time where again, Heath were too passive both offensively and defensively and individuals were regularly outnumbered by the opposition.

Hopefully Heath will use the slightly below par performance this week to motivate themselves for next week and so ensure that the switch is well and truly turned on.

Match details

Match date

Sun 14 Oct 2018

Kickoff

12:30
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