Match Report(s) "The Joe Sandford Festival", Heathfield

Match Report - Joe Sandford rugby day at Heathfield & Waldron Saturday 27th August 2016

LINK TO MATCH DAY PHOTOS CLICK HERE

On a very hot and sunny Saturday the G’s sent down a 25 strong team to take part in a mini-festival of rugby in support of Joe and our friends at Heathfield & Waldron. The new kit had not quite arrived and having none from last season we played in the Sussex County kit! (Navy and Blue hoops)

H&W put out two competitive sides along with Uckfield & Crowborough who would all represent tough opponents for the G’s. Tunbridge Wells who were due to play pulled out leaving the last minute re-shuffle of play that sent the G’s out an hour ahead of schedule and minus a warm up.

The first game of the day saw the G’s face the “Leg-Ends” of Heathfield & Waldron who were a mix of senior players and featured some of their first team. The G’s were strong in the scrum and gave no ground but in truth, we were rusty, robust in defence but rushed going forward and a number of dropped balls hampered our attacking edge. The Leg-ends pinched a one try win but spirits were high.

Without Tunbridge Wells the matches were compressed and that soon saw the G’s out again against the Joe Sandford Team who comprised of both, current and former H&W players. This was a close game which again saw the G’s put on a great defensive show, whilst some of the early errors still persisted, it was clear we were making progress and came close a couple of times. G's scored first after a defensive clearance quickly turned into attack as their 15 fumbled the ball allowing Scott to kick on and collect to go unopposed under the sticks. H&W levelled the scores with the final play of the game after a rare defensive error.

The day was well and truly hotting up in the blistering sunshine. So up next for the G’s a real test in Crowborough who brought a mixed team consisting of many 1st team players. They clearly wanted to set out a significant challenge for our boys. The G’s put on a huge performance in defence against a well organised a drilled Crowborough team, after probing our defences and getting nowhere, they took an easy option with a well-struck drop goal. This kicked the G’s into overdrive and we pushed Crowborough back into their half with just a few missed passes stopping us from levelling the game, a late scrum at the end of the first half saw Cookie intercept a pass from their 10 and run the length of the pitch to score - the opposition must have been jogging back! The second half saw Crowborough shift up a gear and test the G’s resolve once again, despite many attempts it’s wasn’t until the dying moments that a slipped tackle (by Giles Harden!) allowed their centre to scamper over and earn them the win, two scores to one. Despite the loss, this was our best performance so far, handling errors were reducing and the pack started to work through the phases and control the pace….

By now the heat was taking its toll on everyone, the frantic pace of the early games now behind us and fatigue was helping to sharpen minds and dull the aches & pains of playing on the hard ground.

The final game was against a strong Uckfield side who quickly tried to assert themselves on the G’s with an early score, Undaunted the G’s pressed back. In a closely contested first half we came close a number of times, now firing through the phases. The first score for G's came from a chip over the defence on the attacking 22 by Cooke for Jordan "Izzy Dagg" Tucker to collect and score. The second half started with a continued pressure from the boys, with great forward play, resulting in ‘Clark Kent’ (who’s identity needs protecting but sponsored by Garry Gordon) crashing through the Uckfield defence to score an impressive try that set out the G’s attacking form.

The game continued to shift up and down the field with the G’s defence holding strong, the continued pressure forcing errors on our opponents, one incident gave Jake the opportunity to win back position and set up some fantastic running rugby that saw Danny Arnold rip through their defence and land the final score of the game and earn the G’s a well deserved Win.

Overall the effort today was fantastic, some outstanding tackling across the park and a defensive display of which we can all be very proud, particularly given the quality of opposition we faced.

'Back of the Tournament' was Jordan with some epic tackling and a great try. Forward of the tournament was Jake who was a live wire all day craftily stealing the ball and seemingly everywhere on the pitch. Special mentions to ‘Clark Kent’, Burt and Dan for some great effort round the park, the pack as a whole deserves real credit for a rock-solid scrum.

Rhys, Sam & Ben came in with some fantastic try saving tackles as well as a great effort from Frankie & Pete who never missed a tackle.

Big thanks to Neil Oaks for lending us a much-needed gazebo, Tom Keeley for transporting all the gear in his van (as well as some great tackles on the field) and Rex Whittaker for running the line and taking care of the boys all day!

For me there were some great tries and a brilliant defensive effort but my moment of the day, however, goes to young Callum who came up to me in the final game with his pinky sticking out at an “unhealthy angle” to ask whether he should sub himself off or continue playing…

Brilliant day of rugby today all in support of a great guy and a great club, a big thank you to Mike and his team at H&W for being great hosts!

Oh and D.o.D? well there wasn’t one this week, everyone put in a huge effort! Truly proud of you all today lads!

ONWARDS! to the 3rd September and our home pre-season friendlies with Crowborough, let’s put in maximum effort to make training Tuesday & Thursday this week and bring home the W’s next Saturday!

**** Disclamer ****

Any event depicted in this match report are factual as recollected by the author after a few sherbets and are therefore subject to some “editorial license”. Everything hurts, the sunburn is starting to really sting and the deep heat aka “hot sauce” has reached some tender areas… peace-out G’s