Ports fall short in storm
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Heathfield 2nd XV 21 Rye Ports XV 0
Rye Ports Squad 1 Monks 2 Porter 3 Bristow 4 Webster 5 Poulter 6 A Niell 7 Sinclair 8 Weston 9 Corneely 10 Eastwood 11 Rylatt 12 Mayer 13 Potter 14 Warman 15 Davie 16 Thomas 17 J Niell 18 Bigg 20 Freeman 21 Holmann
The Rye Ports XV went into their first league game with a strong blend of former Cinque Ports players and established Rye players. Despite the grim conditions the Ports side looked to play expansive rugby. Outside half Chris Eastwood streaked through a gap and was unlucky not to field his searching kick. Debutant Jason Potter also found a gap and was dragged down feet from the line. Ports dominated the early phases and strong running from Archie Niell and Neil Davie seemed likely to breach the lines. However, Heathfield were solid in defence and Ports could not find the way through the lines. Heathfield played the conditions well and their short runners put Ports under pressure. Niell and Barry Porter were both tenacious in the tackle, and Ben Weston caused significant chaos at the breakdown. Poor discipline let Ports down though and eventually Heathfield worked their way over the line twice. This poor discipline led to yellow cards for Ben Sinclair, Murray Warman and Jody Freeman. A loose pass gave Heathfield a third try before Ports got their head around the conditions and strong carrying by Paul Bristow, Josh Niell and Tom Poulter got some go forward. However, the late flurry of cards meant Ports could not capitalise and ended the game scoreless.
Despite the result there were a number of positive performances. Neil Davie show real vision playing out of position at fullback, hooker Barry Porter brought grit and physicality to the pack but player of the match was Archie Niell who broke the gainline continually and didn’t miss a tackle throughout.
Team manager Gavin Thomas summarised the game realistically “It wasn’t the result we wanted but saw some strong play that will only improve over time and across the two sides we saw nearly 40 players pull on Rye shirts”. Ports continue their league campaign at home against Hove 3rd XV.