Heath V Jersey

On a sunny autumnal day in great playing conditions, Haywards Heath U16s took on the formidable Jersey, unbeaten for the past two years, in their first league match of the season.

As always, Heath were dominant in the scrum and they had control of the majority of the line outs including a number of the opposition's throw ins. Kai Jutson was prolific in the air, stealing and disrupting Jersey's ball, leading to Heath having plenty of possession which was generally well used by Will Ratoff and Christian Streater.

However, there was still plenty of work to do in defence and it was pleasing to see that Heath were absolutely solid with great line speed and tackling throughout the team, as a consequence they were able to nullify any offence that Jersey managed to muster.

At the end of the first half, the score was 10-0 with tries being scored by Bobby Collins and Kai Jutson.

At half time, Heath made seven changes to the team which created some disruption in the ranks and Jersey began pressing hard for a score, achieving one soft try, deftly converted. Luckily Adam Southern managed to break a number of tackles and sprint about three quarters of the pitch to score in the corner. This moment seemed to crush Jersey's resolve who could have got back in the game otherwise and from there Matt Cains and Bobby Collins went on to score two more tries and the game ended a Heath win at 25-7.

The key focus for improvement from Heath's performance today will be the high penalty count and the occasional wrong option, both leading to tries being left out on the park. However, overall a pleasing start to their league campaign.