Hastings and Bexhill Under 14s take on Midhurst

The form of the hosts pre-Christmas had been mixed but with Ollie Penfold, Jack Jenner and Tema Gilgeous-Osman joining the squad and making their debuts on the bench there was much excitement about how the talented young side could perform.

In perfect conditions for rugby, the visitors started strongest and opened the scoring, converting the try to take a 0-7 lead. Despite going behind, there were some real improvements from the hosts, with dominant tackling, and previously missing competitive rucking areas of the game, suddenly on display.

This physicality was rewarded when Hartley went over to bring the score back to 5-7, however, a mistake led to the visitors extending the lead before half time to 5-12.

The second half saw the home team dominating possession but just missing the clinical finish. This was compounded by the visitors scoring twice, despite rare possession, to take the lead 5-22.

Tate was able to add a second try in the last play of the game however, the match was over, the score10-22. Although disappointed, the young team should have confidence in their performance, with the visiting coach confirming score line flattered his team. With Ruusuvuori picking up player of the match, the team will look to continue their improvement against Crawley on Sunday.

H&B: T. Roberts, N.Cassidy, S.Verlander, L. Sheppard, I. Kesen, J. Beezer, D. Tate. G. Hartley, X. Copley, V. Romano, L. Ruusuvuori, E. Loving-Price, F Macdonald, N. Carrington-Paines, L. Chappell, J. Simms. O. Penfold, J. Jenner, T. Gilgeous-Osman

Thanks went to sponsors Hartley Heating & Plumbing, RJ Roberts Carpentry, GoPet Vets, Joseph Bentley Developments, Martello, EAR Sheppard, Next Phase Coffee and KR Lifting.