Eastbourne win at Haywards Heath to end league season on a high

Eastbourne comfortably beat Heath in the home fixture earlier in the season, but Heath have gathered momentum throughout the season and picked up some good results. A fantastic lunch at the new Heath clubhouse made for a large crowd in the sun.

Heath started the stronger and battered Eastbourne’s try line, with wave after wave of attacks, but Eastbourne’s well drilled defence held firm and forced Heath into errors in the first quarter of the game.

Heath eventually crossed in the 23rd minute but missed the conversion. Heath had the strong wind to their backs and needed to make it count, but could not muster more than the one try in the first half.

Eastbourne responded with a few attacking phases of their own in the second quarter and, with a good set piece, put themselves in a good position for Paul Smith to charge his way over to score from short range. Captain Jake Howe kicked the conversion to lead 7-5 at the break.

Unfortunately a Heath player received a red card for a dangerous tackle on Earnie Hoskins. This was the start of the game becoming quite disjointed for the remainder, with lots of infringements and misunderstandings from both sides with the referee’s interpretation of the laws.

Good kicking from both Leon Wood and Howe kept Heath pinned in their own half for lots of the second half, with substitute Stuart Baker gathering a cross field kick to race in and score in the corner, with Howe kicking the conversion for Eastbourne to lead 14-5 on the 50th minute.

The game continued in this vain until Oliver ‘Big Mac’ Horley finished off a well-worked set of phases to power over in the corner on 60 minutes.

Heath kept Eastbourne from scoring any more tries but Howe did manage to kick another penalty to take the lead to 22-5 which was the final score.

It was not a game the big crowd deserved, but Eastbourne finished the season after a mid season wobble to only lose two games in the last 11 and finish in a very respectable sixth place.

Eastbourne now have a county final to look forward to, away to Crowborough on April 26 (3pm).

This will be a massive test of this ever-growing side, but a great way to finish the season off for the first team.