HASTINGS & BEXHILL 27  WHITSTABLE 13

A FULL bonus point win at home was just what the doctor ordered, as H&B broke their three game losing streak and moved back up to sixth in the Kent One league on Saturday.

In doing so, they showed - along with grit and team spirit - some concerning continuing symptoms of one-step-back from their early season two steps forward, ruling out any premature issue of a clean bill of health.

Previous meetings with the north Kent side have always been close-fought, rugged and physical, and Whitstable have edged the results.

With a largely teenage backline reshuffled to cover missing players, and a back row similarly hit by injuries, the home side needed to avoid a repeat of their recent slow starts, which it seemed in the opening minutes they had. But early promising inroads ended with lost ball, and from a penalty kick to touch and a strong lineout, Whitstable moved the ball across field and launched a series of assaults on H&B’s tryline.

The home side’s defence proved just about good enough, and the game settled into an untidy exchange of pick and drives from both sides, off-loading by H&B, kicking from Whitstable, played out mostly outside either red zone.

Of the two sides, H&B looked slightly the better in theory with their bigger pack and slicker support play but in practice Whitstable looked the dominant side, their forwards using upper body strength to forage successfully and a strong 10-12 combination and powerful wing taking advantage of the home side’s open field mistakes and ineffectiveness at the breakdown area.

When skipper Paul Sandeman came off with an ankle injury in the first quarter, H&B’s prospects were already in the balance. So a well-judged fly-hack and gather by Dillon Newell, followed by good hands, and a penalty against the visitors in front of their posts, well converted in the gusting wind by Matt Harbord, came as a great relief.

Whitstable continued to apply most of the pressure without quite looking like converting it into points, while H&B showed bursts of quality interplay between forwards and backs and looked the better side, but were consistently out-worked in the breakdown area.

When Joe Umpleby picked up a shoulder injury after half an hour, H&B were left with no specialist hooker, and when Dan Hewitt came off with a painful knee injury in the same half, halfback Percy Fitzgerald found himself playing only his second game for the first team in the pack.

Prospects weren’t good, but somehow H&B were shoving the visitors’ scrum about, and winning lineout ball - albeit very untidy ball at both set pieces, harassed by Whitstable players allowed to come offside.

Towards the end of a marathon first half - 56 minutes because of injuries - H&B launched a series of attacks on Whitstable’s tryline, ending with clumsy knock-ons. But from a penalty five metres out stand-in skipper Jimmy Adams took a quick tap, and drove over to give the home side a morale-boosting 8-0 halftime lead.

Despite their lead, H&B’s injuries had left them a hill to climb in the second half, so when from kick-off Newell intercepted a lazy Whitstable pass and raced over the tryline, 13-0 suddenly looked more comfortable.

Whitstable hit back with a brief siege of H&B’s line, ending with a converted penalty, 13-3.

The home side replied with a concerted attack, a string of penalties against Whitstable, during which they twice crossed the visitors’ tryline only to be called back by the referee. Mark Piotrowski finally dived over for a legitimate try, but was robbed by the referee awarding a penalty try and binning a Whitstable player. Harbord converted for a 20-3 lead, with a quarter of the game left.

Justice for Piotrowski prevailed when he came up holding the ball following a powerful H&B drive over Whitstable’s tryline from a lineout, converted by Harbord for a 27-3 lead and a bonus point. The last 10 minutes saw a tiring H&B concede a slew of penalties and allow gutsy Whitstable back into the game with a series of pick and drives in the corner, the first few waves kept out by brave tackling but pressure finally telling, 27-8.

A beautifully judged cross field kick perfectly taken by Whitstable’s fullback and run in under the posts closed the gap to 27-13 and set alarm bells ringing for H&B. But with five minutes left, H&B managed to retake control and claim the vital victory.

“Whitstable are aways difficult to beat, and traditionally they have beaten us,” said backs coach Kit Claughton. “So to get a win and pick up the bonus points is fantastic. “We had key players missing and to think we lost three forwards in the first half, including our captain, and yet still won is very pleasing.

“Once we stopped listening to all the advice on how we should be playing from our supporters, and played our own rugby, we made inroads and scored points. “It wasn’t pretty today, but considering the difficulties this week, we'll take a ‘Quasimodo’ victory.”

H&B: Roche, Umpleby (Ward), Spatchhurst, Adams, Luff, Sandeman (A Mahoney), Hewitt (Fitzgerald), Piotrowsky, P Claughton, K Claughton, Harbord, Waring, Newell, Crosby-Clarke, Steadman.

Report by RussC