DARTFORDIANS 5   HASTINGS & BEXHILL 13

H&B dug deep for their best win of the season on Saturday, and in doing so produced a cohesive and classy team performance that bodes well for the second half of their first season in the tough and competitive Kent One league.

Despite a convincing home win in their last game, H&B travelled to the joint top placed club with some trepidation.

Darts had only lost one of their 12 league games, they had recently come down from a couple of leagues higher, and they were unbeaten at home.

By contrast, H&B’s only win away from home was the first game of the season. Since then profligate penalties and oven glove handling had torpedoed otherwise close-fought contests.

And from the kick-off, the form book looked pretty accurate. The hosts launched several waves of attacks with ball in hand, which strong tackling eventually turned over. H&B countered with some excellent short passing to carry the ball from 22 to 22, spoilt by a knock-on with the line in sight.

H&B then uncharacteristically fumbled a couple of Darts kicks, which gave the hosts the chance to move the ball well down the line, and scoot in for a confidently-finished try in the corner, and an early 5-0 lead.

With the visitors’ normally well-oiled lineout machine creaking and clanking, and their set scrum under early pressure, the scene looked set for another frustrating afternoon.

But some canny kicking and effective chasing, and huge tackling - notably by H&B centre partners Ash Diedericks and Dillon Newell - stopped a couple of Darts’ moves dead in their tracks, leading to a difficult penalty chance, skillfully converted by skipper Paul Sandeman.

The game was still being played largely in H&B’s half, and though the forwards were disrupting much of Darts’ lineout possession - clearly a plank in the hosts’ success - H&B could not win any good ball on their own throw-in.

But hard work and aggression were paying dividends for H&B, and it was Darts who were beginning to drop the ball and leak the penalties.

Charge-downs by Sandeman and Jimmy Adams opened opportunites for the visitors, and a number of times in the first half the ball was moved confidently to within scoring distance, only for good defence to prevail.

On one such visit to the Darts’ 22, some great rucking by the pack won another tricky penalty opportunity, again well-converted by Sandeman.

Further penalty kicks for handling on the ground and a high tackle by Darts were missed by H&B, then a great passage of pick-and-drives ended with a Darts’ prop sin-binned and a penalty close to the tryline. H&B opted for the scrum, but they were wheeled, and the half ended with H&B wondering if - with the wind and slope against them in the second half - a one point lead was enough.

The answer came almost from kick off. H&B won the ball, and with four skillful phases worked it upfield, until a break by Diedericks and good hands were topped off by a powerful run by Newell to beat the defence and touch down under the posts, converted by Sandeman for a two-score lead.

From then on H&B held the reins. Darts were still very much in the game, and competing with passion, but it was H&B whose control of the ball at the breakdown was sharper, whose handling was slicker, and whose control of the game was more confident.

H&B created two try-scoring opportunities thwarted on the line and spoilt a couple more by their own mistakes. The refereeing was individualistic but even-handed throughout the game, both sides suffering undeserved reverses and winning unearned rewards from it in roughly equal measure.

As in previous weeks, H&B’s set scrum got stronger as the game progressed - Tom Spatchurst and Tony Roche had their best games for some time, outplaying their bigger opponents. H&B’s forwards were a revelation in the loose. Gone were the penalties at the breakdown, instead there was real venom in the pick and drives, speed onto the loose ball, and good support and driving over from the whole pack.

The backline benefited from better ball. Diedericks is getting sharper by the game, as is his partnership at centre with the precociously talented Newell. Bruce Steadman, too, produced a dynamic performance. The back three as a unit comfortably contained Darts’ usually effective kicking game, and launched their own counter-attacks.

Kit Claughton ran the game with shrewd assurance, while his brother Piers wrought havoc round the back of Darts’ scrum, turning over their ball and always an attacking danger.

As a result, H&B’s hungry young backline were able to make the most of hard-won possession, and keep their opposite numbers - who have been having a dominant season - wrong-footed.

Darts tackled hard, but H&B tackled harder. Dartfordians were probably not at their best for this game, and the home return match will doubtless be even tougher. But this was a landmark performance in H&B’s development. They took a firm step forward as a team, showing themselves and an impressed touchline another glimpse of what they can become.

“We talked about making the right decisions with ball in hand and being committed and organised in defence - we did both,” said backs coach Kit Claughton.

“It was a very good away performance and we mixed our game well: kicking, using our forwards and going wide. It was by no means perfect, but we can be very pleased.

“Kent touchlines can be very vocal, mocking every mistake, wrong decision or extra bit of weight you might be carrying - the Dartfordian touchline was very quiet yesterday. By contrast our own supporters made themselves heard - which was really up-lifting.”

H&B: Roche, Ward (Umpleby), Spatchurst, Adams, Luff, R McManus (Piotrowski), Sandeman (c), S McManus, P Claughton, K Claughton, Harbord, Diedericks, Newell, Campbell, Steadman (Waring).

Report by RussC