Haywards Heath’s young rugby stars enjoy league and cup success

Heath U16 Hurricanes 38 Chichester U16s 10

In what was effectively a semi-final to decide who would reach the County League Cup Final, the Hurricanes secured a convincing win at a sunny Whiteman's Green on Sunday in their final league game of the season.

The Hurricanes began the game on the front foot with a kick off sent deep into the Chichester half, a good kick chase, and a period of early pressure on the opposition goal line. This pressure wasn't converted into points though, with opportunities wasted through inaccurate line out work, and the Hurricanes being held up over the try line enabling Chichester to clear their lines.

Indeed it was Chichester who opened the scoring against the run of play when, after 20 mins, their dynamic number 8 Ethan Karr scored an unconverted try in the left corner directly from a scrummage in the Hurricanes 22 to lead 0-5.

This jolted the Hurricanes into action, who to that point had lacked their usual composure and cohesion. On 23 mins, Archie Francis, once again deployed at inside centre instead of his preferred role at lock, stepped back inside a drifting Chichester defence on the 22m line to score under posts. Sam Denslow converted for a 7-5 lead.

After more pressure on the Chichester line, Denslow then neatly stepped past four would-be tacklers from 10m out to score a try which he then converted to put the Hurricanes 14-5 in front.

Chichester were not prepared to roll over though and fought their way back into the Hurricanes half, earning a lineout on the left hand side in a good attacking position. A well worked peel at the front of the lineout then presented Chichester's man of the match Ethan Kerr with his second try of the day as he ran in to score in the corner from 20m out. The conversion was missed, but the match remained close at 14-10.

The Hurricanes were largely dominant in terms of possession and territory, but continued to make errors at crucial moments. The nerves were settled though when skipper Josh Henley Gower powered over for the first of his two tries either side of half time from the base of the scrum – the try was converted to take the lead out to 21-10.

Having scored with the last play of the first half, Henley Gower repeated the feat shortly after the restart when he scored an unconverted try in the left corner to put the Hurricanes 26-10 up and in a commanding position.

After more dominant play, the Hurricanes secured another scrum in the Chichester 22m zone and, following good interplay and offloading, flanker Jake Bates powerfully crashed through a tiring Chichester defence for a try which was converted to extend the Hurricanes lead to 33-10.

Chichester then lost their star man Ethan Kerr to a yellow card following two separate infringements. The visitors continued to fight hard in the closing stages of the match though, but by this stage were chasing the game. They unwisely chose to run the ball from deep in their own half only to be undone by the Hurricanes pressure defence, which had worked well all afternoon. This forced a Chichester turn over and secured a penalty allowing scrum half Olly Miller to take full advantage and dart over for the last try of the game to make the final score 38-10.

Once again there were solid performances throughout the Hurricanes team, with Archie Francis securing the Man of the Match award for the second match in a row. This win means that the Hurricanes have guaranteed themselves a place in the League 1 County Cup Final against Hove on 21 April - the only team to have beaten them this season. The Hurricanes will need to improve significantly to overcome a very strong Hove side, but the U16s coaches believe that the Hurricanes are more than capable of doing just that.

Heath U16 Hurricanes squad: Finley Baffoe-Garley; Jake Bates; Will Bates; Christian Benstead-Schlup; James Broyd; Liam Buckfield; Paddy Cowan; Sam Denslow; Oscar Clark; Archie Francis; Josh Henley Gower; Tryfan Lewis; Rory March; Arlo Merchant; Olly Miller; Monty Oliver; Theo Polhill; Mylo Smith; James Whalley; George Wiscombe; Leon Zeelie.

Hove U12s 15 Heath U12s 20

A magnificent season for Heath U12 boys has been crowned with a tremendous victory against a very strong previously-unbeaten Hove team. A large crowd of supporters witnessed an absolutely rip-roaring match, played by both sides with outstanding commitment, skill and relentless intensity - even more impressive given the appalling weather conditions.

With more than 60 boys from across 15 local schools, this age group is the first ever at HHRFC to field three competitive squads (Trojans, Spartans, Vikings) in the same junior Sussex League Championships.

According to U12 Head Coach, Owen O’Hagan, “We’ve been blessed with some talented hard-working children and built on fantastic foundations laid in previous seasons, by Heath coaches including Ashley Ross, and in particular Bob Speight (now Heath U12s girls Lead Coach), with our ethos of fun, enjoyment and deliberately mixing players across squads to make new friends and a firm emphasis on the ‘collective’.”

We have used rugby as a vehicle to teach life skills and help enable our children to develop into polite, considerate and impressive youngsters. They learn to be respectful to others and how to interact within a team environment, whilst understanding the importance of resilience, and how to learn from failure as well as success.’’

Heath U12 Trojans won their division whilst the Spartans came runners-up in Division 2.

This 2023/4 Sussex U12 boys trophy will sit alongside the Sussex U12 girls trophy, also won this season by HHRFC - together with the Harlequins Landrover Cup U12 boys regional trophy, at which a combined Trojans-Spartans-Vikings squad triumphed over the cream of clubs from across Kent, Hampshire, Surrey & Sussex - and for which the squad has been invited to Twickenham in June, to parade at half-time during the Premiership Cup Final. HeathU12s will take more than 160 players and family members along to the home of rugby to celebrate this season’s amazing successes.

According to Rhodri James, Minis & Youth Chair at HHRFC: ‘‘It has been an absolutely fabulous season for the Club in general and our Minis & Junior sections in particular. We‘ve commenced construction of our super new Clubhouse which will further enhance what has traditionally been one of the powerhouses of children’s rugby in Sussex, and indeed all South-East England. We always welcome new members - girls and boys - at whatever age or experience so if your child is interested, please do contact us directly or via the HHRFC website and come give rugby at Heath a try.’’

For more information email [email protected]

Heath host Sussex U8 Festival

Last weekend, 264 Under 8 children from 38 teams took part in the Sussex Minis festival, hosted at Warden Park due to current limited car parking facilities at Whitemans Green. A huge 90 matches were played across nine pitches, with much needed nourishment coming from a Heath volunteer run BBQ and cake stall. Bruce Hayter, Senior Vice President at Sussex RFU said, “Congratulations on a great festival - it was good to meet so many coaches and supporters at the event.”

Clubs represented included Bognor, Brighton, Burgess Hill, Chichester, Crawley, Crowborough, East Grinstead, Heathfield & Waldron, Horsham, Hove, Lewes, Midhurst, Pulborough, Steyning, Uckfield, Worthing and of course the host Haywards Heath RFC.

Russ Stobbs, Heath U8 coach and a key part of the Festival activation team said “Everyone had a great day, it was so good to see the future rugby players for Sussex expressing themselves on the pitch and demonstrating their developing skills.”

Heath has age groups from U6 to U16, and Colts training every week during the season. For more information regarding joining this forward-looking community rugby club contact [email protected]