Heathfield Ladies duly collected a bonus point nine try win over Pulborough Ladies who are having a difficult season following their loss of personnel since last year. Pulborough are to be complimented on turning up even though they knew they were in for a difficult afternoon. This contrasted noticeably with two other fixtures in the league today which were marked as Home Walkovers although the context of those is not yet known.
Conditions were good with no significant wind on a cloudy day and a dry but softish pitch.
The scoring was opened within the first three minutes as Heathfield showed good handling skills across the field and Britt Mole received the ball in a little space allowing her to touch down near the posts. Megan Plane duly converted and she went on to add the extra points for six of the tries.
Plane scored the next try herself after turnover ball was run back at the visitors with Becky Taylor making a notably pacy run leading to a break down on the visitors try line from which Plane was able to work her way over.
Most of the play was in the visitors’ half with their scrum under particular pressure. After 25 minutes scrum turnover ball was quickly exploited and Caitlin Flower was able to power over for a try. Dave had started out of position at hooker but this did not seem to inhibit her characteristic carries.
In the last ten minutes of the half Heathfield collected four more tries by Taylor, Abi Bandtock, Laura McGee and skipper Carol Saunders. McGee was becoming more influential as the game went on and she handled at least twice in the buildup to Bandtock’s try.
All of the Heathfield team looked comfortable ball in hand with plenty of good offloads.
McKee then opened the scoring in the second half with a solo effort. Although the game was disrupted by several injuries Pulborough were still making a decent contest of it. Their scrum, although under pressure, was just about securing some ball and most of the game was in midfield.
Entering the last quarter Heathfield built pressure into the visitors’ 22 and a charge down allowed Phoebe Morgan to claim a try.
As more than 60 minutes had elapsed Pulborough now suggested that enough was enough and it was agreed that the game could end.
The referee Chris Grey picked out the Pulborough no 7 Tilly Conway for her impressive efforts in a losing cause with multiple tackles. Heathfield coach Dan Suggitt picked Bandtock as forward of the day although McGee can’t have been far behind. Mole was the home back of the day.
All of the home back row, Taylor, McGee and Saunders were strong performers on a day which admittedly suited their strengths.
Heathfield now have a break until early in the new year when they have a challenging fixture away at Horsham who are close competitors in the league (5 Jan 2.00).
Team 1. Hannah Overy 2. Caitlin Flower 3. Abi Bandtock 4. Velvet Turner 5. Georgia Reed-Davies 6. Rebecca Taylor 7. Laura McGee 8. Carol Saunders 9. Liberty Lawrence
10. Megan Plane 11. Megan Baker 12. Sophia Skinner 13. Jasmin Lewis 14. Phoebe Morgan 15. Brittany Mole
Replacements 16. Freya Gorringe 17. Lauren Duly 19. Maya Champion