H&B finish with trip to champs

Action from Hastings & Bexhill's most recent away game against Pulborough. Picture courtesy Steve Robards (SUS-150323-145519001)

Already relegated H&B will travel to London Three South East champions Horsham tomorrow (Saturday) in their final game of the 2014/15 campaign.

Head coach Kevin Smith said: “We’ll give it our best shot and just play rugby. We’re just looking to try and go out with a bit of a flourish.

“We’ve got a young back line there and we want them to play. They’re fit, fast and they’re a lot smarter than they were at the beginning of the season. We’ve seen some marked improvements.

“The club knows they’ve got to keep faith with the youngsters and we’re in a fortunate position.”

Horsham are a huge 84 points ahead of H&B having won 20 of their 21 fixtures so far. H&B have lost 19 of their 21, including a 50-17 defeat in the reverse fixture on the opening day.

“We want to win, but we’re looking for improvements,” continued Smith. “They put 50 points on us first time round and they’ll be looking to put a massive great score on us. We’re going to see that they don’t.

“I thought early on they just looked devastating. They had some good individual players that really took the game to us. We need to be nice and tough up-front, and the set-piece has got to be better.”

Nobody wants to finish bottom of the table and second-bottom H&B are a point above Lewes going into the final day. Lewes are at home to mid-table Uckfield in their last game.

Rye Rugby Club, meanwhile, will wrap up its Sussex One campaign with a trip to Crowborough II tomorrow. Second-bottom Rye drew at home to third-bottom Crowborough on the opening day.