Heath V Pulborough

After having trained with the seniors on Thursday night, in what was an excellent session for both squads, the U16 boys turned up energised for today’s important league game against Pulborough, who themselves had just had an impressive league win last weekend against Uckfield.

With a particularly strong cross wind at Whitemans Green, Heath kicked off playing down the slope. It was Pulborough who appeared to settle the quicker of the two sides with Heath hardly touching the ball for the first 10 minutes or so. However, Heath haven’t got the best conceded points record in the league for no reason, with an average of only 5 points conceded per game, Heath’s defence held firm, comfortably soaking up the early Pulborough pressure.

Once Heath eventually got their hands on the ball, they immediately looked threatening and it was prop, Daniel Grant, who showed an excellent turn of pace to burst clear down the touchline from about 35 yards out and then, taking the Pulborough full back over the line with him, delivered the first score. The conversion from out wide into the wind was missed and so the score remained at 5-0.

This score helped to settle the Heath side and they started to send up their forward runners on a more regular basis. James Watson spotted a gap in the Pulborough defence on 14 minutes, and his pace off the mark enabled him to exploit this space to score Heath’s second try close to the posts. William Goodwin was successful with the conversion to take the score to 12-0.

There then followed a 10 minute period where neither side was able to dominate. Indeed, the Heath forwards were starting to look a little passive off the line in defence around the rucks and mauls. However, Ellis Dubois was able to calm any Heath nerves by crashing over after about 25 minutes for Heath’s third try taking the score to 17-0.

This third score appeared to suck some of the fight out of Pulborough and Ben Eustace crossed for two further tries before half time, with one of them being converted. This left the score at 29-0 at half time with the valuable fourth try bonus point secured. Whilst this had been an excellent half for Heath, Pulborough were clearly a dangerous side and the coaches emphasised at half time that the game still had to be won and that the boys could not afford any complacency.

As usual, the coaches made seven half time changes to give all of the squad good game time, which again led to a period of settling in for the new additions. Pulborough duly took full advantage to score shortly after the interval, when a kick through was allowed to land, rather than be taken in the air. This led to a kind bounce for the Pulborough scrum half who scampered clear from about 30 yards to score under the posts. The successful conversion took the score to 29-7 and Pulborough were back in the game.

The coaches demanded an immediate response from the boys and this duly came from replacement prop Adrian Illes, who was able to use his immense strength to crash over from about 15 yards, leaving a couple of would be Pulborough tacklers in his wake. William Goodwin was next to score for Heath with about 10 minutes of the second half played, showing his usual searing pace to outflank the Pulborough defence from about 40 yards out. At this point the score was 39-7.

About three minutes later, George Creavy placed a further to try for Heath and Willam Goodwin was successful with the conversion to take the score up to 46-7. Heath then relaxed, with the game seemingly won, and some sloppy tackling around the middle of the park allowed a Pulborough attacker to waltz through the Heath defence from about 30 yards out. This deserved second score took Pulborough’s points tally to 14, which was virtually 50% of all of the points that Heath had conceded in the last six league games.

However, there was still time for Heath to register one more score. With about 10 minutes remaining, a lucky bounce and some clever footwork from Christian Streater saw him sprint clear of the Pulborough defensive line and complete his 40 yard run with an acrobatic try scoring celebration. William Goodwin kicked the extras and the score moved on to 53-14. The remaining ten minutes were relatively non-eventful, with the exception of a yellow card to a Heath player and an epic hail storm of biblical proportions.

The final score of 53-14 in Heath’s favour was a fair reward for the numerous carries of the Heath forwards and some exquisite handling by the Heath backs. Every single Heath player in the squad of 22 contributed to this win. However, today’s Man of the Match award, which was also endorsed by the Pulborough coach, went to the Heath winger, Matt Cains, for his numerous carries, yardage gained and defenders beaten. It was just a shame that he couldn’t add a try to his excellent stats. The only black mark on this impressive performance were the two soft tries that Heath leaked and the subsequent increase in the league points that they’ve now conceded.

Next week’s supposed league title decider was somewhat curtailed when news arrived that Crowborough had beaten Heathfield, the only other side in the league that could have overhauled Heath. Therefore, Heath have now already won the league with a game to spare. However, the coaches and the squad will want to ensure that the job is finished properly next week with a win and an unbeaten league record.