Heathfield deservedly collected a third home win to keep them in second place in the Counties 1 Kent table. However for Heathfield the game was overshadowed by the death the previous day of their former Head Coach Dave Jones. This was rightly marked by a minute’s applause before the game, with some of his family present. Dave had been an inspirational influence on many present and past players and he would have appreciated the team’s performance today.
Sevenoaks had first use of the slight slope and in generally open play in the opening minutes showed their willingness to move the ball wide whenever possible. Good pace and handling gave them two tries from quick turnover ball, both converted for a 0-14 lead.
In the last two games Heathfield had recovered from 20 and 12 points down early in the game to win one and just lose the other so a mere 14 point deficit at this point was nothing to worry about.
Heathfield were starting to put some decent moves together but were handicapping themselves at this stage by losing the first four lineouts thus ruining some good attacking positions. However in a harbinger of things to come the visitors were marched back 10 m for some unnecessary backchat.
Sevenoaks had a slight edge at this point and their wide backs always looked dangerous. One nice move was ended by a dangerous chip into the right hand corner but it was just beyond the reach of the winger and went dead.
Nonetheless the home pack was becoming increasingly effective and in the last ten minutes of the half most of the game was in the visitors’ 22. The ref afterwards commented that she hadn’t seen so many pick and go’s in a game before but it was certainly working on this occasion.
A Sevenoaks kick out of their 22 was now fielded by Liam Dunkley who shrugged off two tacklers to find Lucas Cuming who made good ground before releasing Jay Massey-Taylor to finish well, converted by Toby Simpson.
Sevenoaks chose to return to the changing room at half time for an extended interval in spite of the sunny almost windless conditions. Jem Macvicker replaced Jo Lewis at this point although Lewis returned later. Early in the half Chris Baker-Butler was replaced by Dylan Eames making his welcome first appearance of the season, with Tom Cornwall moving to hooker.
Soon Sevenoaks again upset the ref with backchat and were marched back 10 metres. Then Harry Slinnhawkins, also making his seasonal reappearance, made a dynamic run in heavy traffic and Heathfield were much on the front foot. A period of pressure on the visitors’ try line was just contained by some stout defence.
However after 15 minutes of the half Massey-Taylor made a superbly timed run to wrongfoot many defenders and although he was eventually brought down, reportedly by a high tackle, quick ball was worked wide left for Cuming to score on the left hand side. Massey-Taylor now had to retire with possibly serious injury which is disappointing as he is having a fine season.
Heathfield now clearly had momentum and most of the rest of the game was in the visitors’ half. A little more accuracy in some of the passes would have produced more scores.
Cuming and Cornwall combined well in a move into the right hand bottom corner but Cornwall was just denied by a brave defensive rip when over the line. However Sevenoaks could not deny Cornwall a deserved try when he worked his way over on the left hand side after more repeated phases with 15 minutes remaining.
The 17-14 scoreline meant that the last few minutes were tense for the home support as the visitors‘ speedy backs always looked dangerous but they were generally pinned back in their own 22. Sevenoaks were also handicapped by their own indiscipline and it was no surprise when one of their second row was binned for rabbit – his team had been repeatedly warned in this respect. The penalty count in the second half was 1-9 against the visitors which tells the story.
Another Heathfield attack dropped the ball just short of the line but home nerves were finally soothed as Sevenoaks tried to run good scrum ball out of defence only for a penalty for crossing to give Simpson an easy three points and the final whistle went soon afterwards.
Afterwards Heathfield Head Coach particularly mentioned the whole front row unit who did well against some sizeable and experienced opponents. Although sometimes under pressure the ball was always secured.
Skipper Gus Taylor had an influential and effective game while Tom Tingley, Cornwall and Aidan Plumley were also noted positively. Harry Reilly, in his first game for a year had a sound game as he deputised (?) for his younger brother Tom.
Referee Katie Gent had her usual good control of the game although the visitors did not always respond to her direction and duly paid the penalty. Lose the ref, lose the game!
Other results, some surprising, illustrate that this is a highly competitive league. In the two previous seasons roughly 25% of games have had a points difference of no more than 7. The figure for this season so far is 65% - i.e. about 2/3rds for the maths-challenged. All four of Heathfield’s games have been in this category.
After a week’s rest Heathfield next visit Ashford (12 Oct 3.00)