Hastings & Bexhill    7-12   Folkestone 
 
Late rally can't stave off loss

Folkestone arrived in a storm usually seen in the monsoon areas of the world and were quickly ushered into the changing rooms to dry out. After a quick pitch inspection it was deemed the £60k spent on the pitches was money well spent and kick off could go ahead as planned.
 
A few missing meant a call up from the u13’s for Loewy Simmons at flanker. As the players took to the field and the sun started to shine, H&B won the toss and elected to kick off in to the wind. The first half Folkestone were the more wide awake and played with a greater sense of urgency and were soon 7-0 as the H&B defence struggled to keep hold of their men in the tackle. The game going from end to end as H&B forwards punched holes in the Folkestone defence led by the powerful Jake Begg supported by Harrison Cox, Ben Cutts and Harrison Turner. The backs once again hampered by the weather struggled to spin the ball to the wings James Hirst and Jamie Lapin-Place as Centre pairing Scott Sherwood and Trystan Mayhew picked up any lose balls. Full Back David Waters covering well as Folkestone tried to kick over the defence. Then just before half time Folkestone broke through and made it 12-0.

A quick drink at half time and with confidence up H&B with the wind started well in the second half as Folkestone found themselves pinned in their 22. Archie Meikle and Ollie Fisher pouncing an any loose balls kept the pressure on and soon it was Loewy Simmons with a quick penalty slicing through the Folkestone defences to bring the score to 12-7 after the conversion from Ollie Fisher.
 
The last 10 minutes it was all H&B as the larger boys from Folkestone began to tire but  H&B were unable to cross the line meaning the final score 14-7 to Folkestone.