Heathfield men and women defeat Kent clubs

On Saturday the Heathfield men’s team recovered from 0-20 down to snatch a win in the last minutes of an entertaining Counties 1 Kent match against Dover.

Dover had first use of the slight slope and two Harry Moore penalties and tries by William Plews and Moore, both converted by Moore, gave them a 20 point lead after 25 minutes. Good work by Toby Simpson and Lucas Cuming allowed Liam Dunkley to open Heathfield’s account with a good finish, converted by Simpson.

Early in the second half Tom Cornwall made an important steal in the tackle and the ball was moved wide for Jay Massey-Taylor to score. Dover replied almost immediately as their strong scrum collected a pushover try.

Heathfield had much the better of the last quarter. First Cornwall worked his way over from close range, converted by Tom Reilly. Reilly then put in a precise 50/22 to give the home side a strong position and pressure soon produced a simple penalty for Reilly.

At 20-25 with just minutes remaining this was a good contest with Heathfield on the front foot. Quick ruck ball was carried on by Massey-Taylor who put Cuming in for the try which levelled the score and then Reilly won the game with the awkward conversion.

On Sunday Heathfield Ladies eventually had a five try bonus point win over Tonbridge Judds Ladies in a NC1 league game.

After a quiet start to the game on 30 minutes Heathfield started to apply pressure on the home try line. Regrettably a home player was now dismissed for foul play. Soon afterwards Georgia Reed-Davies charged over for the opening try, converted by Megan Plane.

Phoebe Morgan collected the next try from a tap penalty for a half time score of 0-12.

Judds only had one replacement while Heathfield had 6. In warm conditions the extra player and fresh legs unsurprisingly led to more scores for the visitors. Sophia Skinner, Amber Lovick and Abi Bandtock collected tries with two more conversions by Plane.

Skipper Carol Saunders, Becky Taylor, Hannah Overy and Chip Chippett were afterwards picked out for their contributions.

Having beaten two Kent sides last week, this weekend Heathfield face two Sussex teams as the men visit Crowborough (September 21, 3pm) and the Ladies entertain Horsham (September 22, 2pm).