Heath V East Grinstead

After a three week break from matches, the U16’s were ready to take to the field for a home friendly against local rivals East Grinstead, who are in the league above.

The playing conditions were perfect with a sunny Spring like day that was conducive to fast running rugby. East Grinstead kicked off and immediately Heath went on the offensive playing down the slope. After about 5 minutes, Heath were able to work Liam Macaulay into space and with some good handling he was able to step his way over the line out wide, for the first score.

Heath maintained this pressure from the restart and with about 10 minutes gone, Thomas Wharton was able to find some space and sprint in from about 40 yards to score under the posts. The successful conversion by William Goodwin then made it 12-0, with Heath looking like they might pull away for a significant win. However, Heath then appeared to loose their composure and started to force the game when they could probably have opted to play the more patient phased plays. This culminated in a number of scoring chances being missed and ultimately half time came with Heath leading by only 12-0.

At half time the coaches made eight changes to give all of the squad some much needed game time and, as is often the case with such a significant number of changes, it took a while for the team to recompose themselves. This allowed East Grinstead a significant 15 minute period of offensive dominance with Heath camped in their own 22 for a portion of this period. However, to the coaches’ pleasure, the Heath defence was resolute and East Grinstead were unable to cross their line for a score that probably would have changed the whole complexion of the game.

Heath were eventually able to break the siege and score a try that is unlikely to be bettered all season. Sam Hearn made the initial break from just outside the Heath 22 and after a significant burst, offloaded to a supporting runner. There were multiple exchanges between Heath players before Sam again received the ball and looked like he would get the score. However, with tiring legs, he once again offloaded, this time to Will Ratoff in support, who ran in close to the posts from about 10 yards to complete this remarkable try. William Goodwin again converted to take the score to 19-0 and so created some much needed breathing space between the two teams.

Not long after this score, with about 20 minutes of the second half played, there was an ugly looking tackle by one of the Heath players that culminated in a yellow card. However, with East Grinstead appearing to tire and starting to lose their shape, Heath, despite being a man down, were able to assert their offensive dominance with Matt Cains breaking free out wide with about 10 minutes left, to sprint in at the corner. A superb conversion out wide from William Goodwin took the score out to 26-0. However, there was still time for Oliver Owens and Thomas Wharton to add further scores, with the latter scoring his second with an outstanding solo effort from about the half way line. William Goodwin was able to convert the second of these two scores with the last play of the game to leave the final score at 38-0 to Heath.

Ultimately, this was a good win for Heath and a score line of this nature should readily be applauded, especially with the absence of any points being conceded and the dominant Heath defence. However, this is a team that is always looking to improve and they may be slightly disappointed with the number of scoring opportunities that were squandered for want of a bit more patience and precision. Today’s Man of the Match award goes to the Heath front ranker, Adrian Illes, who played the full game and was evident with a number a dynamic driving runs. However, special mention also goes to his two other front rank colleagues, Lewis Goodall and Harry Edwards, who also played the whole game and who were evident around the park. The latter was also generally accurate with his line out throwing.

Next week sees the team go on their travels for a friendly against Old Emmanuel in South West London in what is likely to be a tough encounter.