Off-form H&B outmuscled up front

H&B talked the talk but most certainly failed to walk the walk on Saturday as they turned in a disjointed performance to lose their second game out of two.

The William Parker School-based outfit frequently lost their own scrummages and line-outs and when they did get the ball they too often turned it over in the tackle.

A try against the run of play mid-way through the first half saw them lead for the only time, but they were deservedly beaten by one of their promotion rivals.

Assistant coach Rob Hamilton admitted the paucity of ball to the back division lay at the root of their problems. He lamented: "It was a disappointing result. Their forwards got in the ascendancy and we had real problems in the scrum. We hardly had a stable scrum all game. Our ability to use primary possession was one of the major problems. We did get picked off in the line-out as well. I wouldn't have said they were that much bigger, I think it was a lack of concentration."

The fundamental failings which arose in these core areas undoubtedly underpinned the loss - their first league reverse in two years at home - as it becomes very difficult to win any game without possession.

The penalty count was also high although the visitors, newly relegated from London Four, failed to pounce on their generosity to the extent perhaps they should have with a trio of eminently kickable penalties, including one from right in front, dropping the wrong side of the uprights. Two of them were converted early on but H&B hit the front when Shane Potter rounded off a well-worked move involving Jimmy Adams in the corner, from where Paul Sandeman slotted the conversion.

Heathfield quickly restored their advantage when they drove over a maul from a line-out.

The hosts came back into it after the break, enjoying more of the ball but lacking the quality or imagination to unhinge a workmanlike defence, and shipped another try at the other end. They were again their own worst enemies on the discipline front with several decisions going against them when in promising positions. Hamilton continued: "The referee admitted to Roger (head coach Roger Stanley) that he got a couple of decisions wrong and these are the things that could have made the difference."

But in truth H&B got exactly what they deserved. Rob Sparkes ploughed over but Heathfield managed to cling on.