6/2/10 v Heathfield & Waldron

Observer Article 5/2/10

Courtesy of Hastings Observer

Skipper bullish over H&B prospects:

Roger Roberts believes Hastings & Bexhill are capable of beating any team in their division.

The rugby club has shown a marked improvement in form since the turn of the year and has renewed belief in its ability to compete at London Three South East level.

H&B captain Roberts said: "If everything's going our way and everyone's playing 100 per cent, I don't think there's a team in this league we can't beat."

The acid test for that view will come tomorrow (Saturday) when H&B travel to a table-topping Heathfield & Waldron outfit which has won 13 of its 14 league games to date.

Roberts admitted it was going to be a case of damage limitation for H&B when the fixture was originally due to be contested on December 19, but has a more positive mindset this time.

"We're definitely in a better position than we were then and I'm not taking this as damage limitation now," he continued.

"We've got our work cut out and I won't say that the chances are in our favour because they're not, but our confidence has obviously grown a lot and anything can happen on game day."

H&B remain fourth-from-bottom - one point above the three teams beneath them - with nine matches remaining in their league campaign. They are likely to be without hooker Ben Davies.

HASTINGS & BEXHILL 0 - HEATHFIELD 54

THE scoreboard tells the story of this rearranged fixture with London League Three’s table-toppers.

Substantially the same side that H&B walloped several seasons earlier returned the favour with interest on Saturday, in the process showing themselves to be the most complete outfit in the league by some distance.

With a largely rearranged front row, H&B’s pack never achieved the cohesion they had begun to show in recent games, being bettered in every aspect of play, even their normally-effective lineout. But the most costly difference was at the breakdowns, where Heathfield were always quicker in thought and deed, and where the visitors’ defence round the fringes was too often breached.
 
“They were 10 per cent better than us in all areas of the game,” said fly half Kit Claughton. “They were fitter, better organised, quicker, more alert and more dynamic. “Theirs was by some way the best performance we’ve encountered this season. If we’d played them here in the autumn they might have put three figures past us. “But ten per cent is within our powers to improve by, and we’ve got to aim to be playing as well as they did within the next two seasons.”

The hosts paid their respects to the beef in H&B’s pack by moving the game from their muddy first team pitch to the perfect surface of their big newly-finished £140k pitch nearby. 

They then proceeded to demonstrate why they preferred a faster surface, playing quick and clinical rugby, moving the ball neatly down the backline from a lineout, then mauling the ball over the line for a seven point lead - all in the first two minutes of the game.

H&B showed the ambitious aggression in attack they have been developing of late, but Heathfield patiently soaked it up, and waited the chance to turn the ball over at the breakdown, which they did all game.

Their tries came almost exclusively either from very well executed moves from the back of the set scrum - which they also dominated - or from turnover ball returned with pace and intelligence.

H&B’s individual tackling in open field was mostly effective, but missed tackles were ruthlessly punished, and close to, tacklers were sometimes beaten by pace and speed of reaction.

By the half hour mark, H&B trailed 27-0, and the spectre of a collapse hovered in the background. But H&B showed the spirit and ambition that has marked their turnaround in performances, and they continued to battle in the forwards, while the once-again reshuffled backline played with structure, running the ball at the opposition with real purpose.

Despite working with uniformly slow ball, H&B several times worked their way close to Heathfield’s line, and launched attempts to score, but Heathfield’s powerful defence and their own nerves foiled them every time - and virtually every time they were cruelly punished with a scoring counter-attack.

Despite being outplayed as a team, H&B continued to battle individually, man-of-the-match Andrew Hitch and Jimmy Adams putting in huge hits, Mark Piotrowski carrying the ball powerfully from the back of the disrupted scrum, and Piers Claughton dynamic in defence and attack.

The backline, starved of fast attacking ball, nevertheless took on their opposite numbers without ever losing confidence, Bruce Steadman in particular brave and busy all game and Tom Brampton looking strong in an unaccustomed centre position.

To their additional credit, Heathfield never let up either, working hard to keep a relentlessly hopeful H&B scoreless. Barring accidents, Heathfield will win this league and survive in London Two.

H&B’s position in the league remains unchanged, and if this comprehensive defeat doesn’t batter their high morale - and the fact they have remained positive so far suggests they are now made of sterner stuff - their determination to win enough of their remaining fixtures to stay up still looks, barring too many injuries, achievable.

H&B: Roche (Spatchurst), Hopkins, Sheppard, Clifford (Holewell), Adams, Hitch, Sandeman, Piotrowski, P Claughton (c), K Claughton, Petty, Diedericks, Brampton (Lee), Campbell, Steadman.