10/10/09 v Crowborough Lost 12 - 46

IF Hastings & Bexhill were to end up relegated this season - and despite four losses in a row there is still a buoyant will to succeed in this young side - the fault would lie not on the pitch or training paddock, but in commitment.

For the second successive game, H&B found themselves with almost half their team unavailable, several at the last minute. And that’s not counting the long-term injured.  The club simply doesn’t have the strength-in-depth to win games at London Three level with so many absentees.

On Saturday it meant several more season’s debuts, and several more players having to fill in out of position. And while a once-again reshuffled backline continued to show more flashes of improvement, with young Christian Hollingsworth stepping up for a Morgan & Lamplugh man-of-the-match performance at fly half, the team overall looked the cobbled-together outfit it was.

As a result, Crowborough - also winless thus far and starting the game as untidily as their hosts - gradually grew in confidence and started to play some decent rugby. Their smaller pack, comfortably matched in the set pieces, notably in the lineout, repeatedly turned over H&B at the breakdown. Out muscling H&B in the maul, outwitting their hosts - with the help of the most disappointing refereeing display so far this season - at the ruck, Crows’ pack kept turning over H&B’s attacks to good counter-attacking effect. The visitors also won endless penalties, as H&B fruitlessly tried to find legal ways of winning ball being killed or handled on the ground by their smarter opponents.

Thus after a scrappy and anxious first quarter’s play, H&B found themselves 13-0 down, to two penalties and a try created by Crows’ quick left wing too easily dispossessing an H&B player and galloping in for a try.

This was despite several attacks on Crows’ line - including some great tackling by the indefatigable Jimmy Adams and a determined burst from Andrew Hitch - ended in the inevitable turnover.

Crows used the huge boot of their full back to good effect in the first half, and although Bruce Steadman showed great counter-attacking zeal - as well as putting in some big tackles - often well-supported by Ashley Diedericks, the hosts looked increasingly ragged as the half went on.

Conceding another try on the right wing, and with a player in the sinbin, H&B went further behind just before halftime, from a well-worked line-out move, leaving them trailing 23-0 at halftime.

To their credit, and with Piers Claughton driving them on, H&B went on the attack from the start of the second half, only to fall further behind to two more tries from the more clinical Crows. At 35-0 down, and with 25 minutes to go, a rout looked possible.

It was Claughton’s theft of the ball from behind Crow’s scrum, following a determined run by Ben Campbell, that led to H&B’s first try. Driving work by Adams and Mark Piotrowski ended with a dive over by Martin Sheppard.

Crows replied with a long-range penalty, but H&B’s confidence was belatedly creeping back, and a box kick by Claughton, who had given his opposite number a torrid time all game, took H&B to within scoring distance. From the resultant ruck, a forwards drive ended in a pack touchdown, converted by Paul Sandeman.

With H&B looking for a further score, it was Crows who rounded off the afternoon with a last try, scored after yet another inconsistent refereeing decision. But despite the disappointment of another loss, another flawed performance, H&B’s desire remained high right to the whistle. There is undoubtedly a decent side struggling to emerge, if they can maintain their high morale in the face of defeat - and if the commitment to play is there.

H&B: Sheppard, Davies, Spatchhurst, Adams, Clifford, Umpleby, Hitch, Piotrowski, P Claughton (c), Hollingsworth, Steadman, Sandeman, Diedericks (Brampton), Campbell, McManus.