Heathfield RFC men get a good Deal - but ladies lose
Heathfield RFC’s men beat Deal & Betteshanger 28-13 – but Heathfield Ladies went down 26-8 to Batterseas Ironsides Ladies.
Heathfield men secured an important bonus point win over Deal on Saturday which moved them to third place in the Counties 1 Kent league table, overtaking Deal.
Deal opened the scoring with a penalty but Heathfield replied almost immediately as Jay Massey-Taylor dived in from short range for a try.
The game became a midfield struggle with neither side in control although the home back row were making an increasing impact. Eventually this produced a penalty chance which Toby Simpson duly knocked over. However the half ended with a Deal try as they chose to run a kickable penalty and managed to scramble over in the right hand corner.
The half time score of 8-10 reflected the close contest which continued after the interval as a Deal penalty was soon followed by a try by Tom Cornwall to tie things up at 13-13.
However Heathfield were starting to control more of the game and pressure produced a yellow card for a key member of Deal’s lineout operation. The consequent penalty was soon followed by a try for Sam Walley.
The scoring was ended by a try for Jasper Folkes which also secured a try bonus point.
On Sunday the recent sequence of wins for both Heathfield’s senior teams ended as the ladies were well-beaten by Battersea Ironsides. On a chill day and a muddy slimy surface, Battersea adapted to the conditions better and seemed to have more energy than the home side.
The visitors scored two good tries in the first half as they ran back kicks out of defence by the home side. Early in the second half they extended their lead with another try from more good handling.
Heathfield did start to come into the game with a Megan Plane penalty followed by a try from Steph Chipps from short range. However Battersea finished the stronger and collected their bonus point try from a penalty try after their right winger was impeded when going to touch down.
Heathfield’s coaches felt that their team was low on energy after three hard league games in a row.
Heathfield men have a deferred league game this Saturday when they welcome Sevenoaks II, who are one point above them in the table (Jan 31, 2pm). The ladies have a rest weekend before returning to action at Dartford Valley (Feb 8, 2pm).