Depleted Hastings and Bexhill well beaten at Park House

Player injuries and unavailability depleted the Hastings and Bexhill RFC squad - and they lost 30-3 at Park House.
H&B in action at Park HouseH&B in action at Park House
H&B in action at Park House

They took the field with several changes of personnel from their last league game two weeks ago and with only two replacements available.

It is wrong to criticise those who made the effort to travel to Bromley but realistically speaking on the day H&B were not good enough against top of the table opposition.

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Skipper Bruce Steadman put Hastings into an early lead with a well struck penalty awarded for offside.

The H&B pack were working hard and holding their own against the big and strong Park House forwards.

But eventually the home pressure told; two successful penalties and two tries; one converted, gave the hosts an 18-3 lead at half time.

The introduction of Jack Hardy making his first XV debut at prop strengthened H&B’s resolve.

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Joe Jenner moved to the second row to give the pack a more solid foundation and for the opening 20 minutes of the second half Hastings dominated the play but were unable to break through a well organised defence.

Coach Leslie Hunter rotated his squad well: Quinn McManus came back to wing forward, Archie Ridpath moved to centre and Will Hirst came on to the wing for Joe Whitehall Jones, with Jake Stimpson moving to full back.

Unfortunately these changes did not improve the score and Park House were able to score two more tries to secure a bonus point victory.

The withdrawal of HSBC from the league programme leaves Hastings and Bexhill with a blank Saturday this week.

They return to action on October 30 away to Brockleians RFC when hopefully some of the injuries will be healed and there will be more players available for selection.

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