G's v Heathfield & Waldron

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.
The weekend’s title certainly lives up to this famous Clint Eastwood blockbuster – if you are one of our younger team members reading this, and have no clue what I am talking about, give it a watch.

Heathfield has always been a particularly spicy fixture in the calendar and this weekend was exactly that. With the 1st XV game called off due to frozen pitches at Kingston HQ welcomed A fantastic show of support for our second team, who were looking to continue our unbeaten run in the league this season. With both teams eager to get a game this weekend, a slightly later kick-off was agreed to ensure the pitch was in the best condition it could be on the day. The first initial 10 minutes of the game saw lots of physicality for both teams which, combined with errors from both sides led to some early frustrations from both sets of 15.

We have been blessed with an influx of fantastic new players at East Grinstead RFC and this week we welcomed Alister Yaffa to the club, a former Aussie schoolmate of young Harry who was playing for the club earlier this season. After a 12-minute stalemate in the game Ali Moffat collected the ball from a Heathfield 5-meter clearance and popped off to Rhys who delivered a fantastic offload to Yaffa who sat down his opposite man. Charging towards the corner with one last defender in the way he calmly sat down the next defender and dived across the line. A roar from the crowd as well as a “yesssss Yaffa” echoing across the ground gave life to this East Grinstead team.

After yet another Heathfield goal line clearance, East Grinstead had a massive overlap on the far side of the second team pitch. Crys for “hands” were met with another series of fantastic offload from the backs. The ball finally made its way to Yaffa who stepped up once again and broke through with another fantastic run through Heathfield’s defensive line. The ball went down in the corner and left the game 10-0 after 20 minutes. Not long after this Daan Hulst had a try disallowed after a tap and go penalty saw him dive across the line – the ref had initially given the try however after several Heathfield players surrounding him and complaining he made the decision to overturn his initial decision….

In a very physical game, which saw plenty of players lose their cool at times, including Heathfield’s 8 being asked to leave the field, and the club for that matter! one thing which stood out in the first half was the G’s scrum dominance. Something Sandy has been drilling us with since preseason. If not for a couple of handling errors on the day, and Pullen booting the ball downfield after we had turned over a Heathfield Scrum! These would have no doubt led to more points in the first half. However, this dominance was soon rewarded 5 minutes after the second try of the day when East Grinstead were awarded a scrum 10 meters from Heathfield’s try line, a place we had been camped in for the majority of the game. After another strong shove from the forwards Morgan Burger fizzed the ball out to 10 Rhys who then tipped to Moffatt at 12 who cut a fantastic line and scored right next to the posts leaving a great opportunity for leading 2nd XV points scorer Luke Maker to slot between the posts. At half time East Grinstead were ahead 17-0.

Whilst East Grinstead had generally been well disciplined in the first half unfortunately this started to slip in the second. With a change of front row for both sides the Heathfield Scrum seemed to be a completely different outfit to what it had been in the first. Scrums were much better contested, and physicality levels went up on a pitch which had started to get harder and harder as the game went on.

Heathfield’s defense had been tested on numerous times in the first half however the second half saw East Grinstead on the back foot several times. After a quick tap and go Heathfield secured their first try of the day. This was then followed by a second try later in the second half after a lineout saw Heathfield break East Grinstead’s defense. With just under a quarter of an hour left, East Grinstead were awarded a penalty in front of the sticks which Luke Maker slotted to secure East Grinstead’s final points of the day. Leaving the score 20-10 in East Grinstead’s favour.

In what was a particularly feisty encounter which only saw one yellow card on the day (there could have been several others) I want to applaud the young referee who managed the game well despite a very heated encounter. I also want to tip my hat to a young lad who I would say has been the most improved player this season across the club… and whose name I will get right this week….. George Naylor. This young man has been a fantastic addition to the club this season and has been getting better every single week, which is no doubt testament to his commitment to the club and being a regular at every single training session. Unfortunately, George went down in the second half and had to be carried off the pitch. We have since learnt that George has broken his fibula and is currently in a boot…. which I hope you are milking to the absolute extreme! Girls love rugby injury stories, or so I have been told. The whole club is around you and we look forward to welcoming you back as soon as you are able.

This weeks MOTM jacket went to Alister Yaffa who had a fantastic debut for the club, however I must apologise to Ali Moffatt whose try I seemed to forget in the post-match speech…I must have hit my head on the hard ground. DOTD went to everyone’s favorite regular DOTD, Charlie Pullen.
Despite a heated encounter it was fantastic to see so many people up at the club house after the game, and even better to see our two East Grinstead players win the boat race – W’s all around.

After Uckfield 2nd XV have unfortunately made the decision to pull out of our league the second team will have a friendly arranged for Saturday 27th at home. We are looking forward to a big test and a fantastic day at the club with our 1st XV hosting Old Walcountians.