Sussex "Canterbury Jack" Intermediate League

St Francis 3 Eastbourne II 3

 A cold January afternoon greeted the two teams for this top of the table clash as high-flying Saints entertained top of the table Eastbourne at Southgate playing fields on Saturday. Although the pitch had been heavily watered by the recent snow, it was still in a good condition. In fact, it was the spectators, their number boosted by the incentive of a pre-match curry and pint, who endured the worst of the ground conditions while traversing the area in front of the clubhouse and walking to the touchline. It was perhaps expecting too much for players who had not tasted competitive action for six weeks to be at the top of their game. As the contest unfolded into a game littered with ball handling errors, both sides focused their attention on not losing the game rather than winning it and, truth be told, this took something away from the match as a spectacle.

 Saints had an opportunity to put the first points on the board when Shane Kenny attempted an ambitious shot at goal from just inside the opposition half after seven minutes. Although his attempt fell some way short of the target it galvanised Saints into action and they spent the majority of the next twenty minutes on the attack. For five of these minutes Saints threatened the Eastbourne line. Dave Callan was often prominent in driving the ball forward, ably supported by Will Arney and Simon Trevaskis. After a typical show and go from Dave Miles the ball came to Imi Singh who charged down the blindside before looking for Dave Ayres on the wing. Unfortunately the ball fell short of Ayres and despite Eastbourne being penalised for offside a couple of times in quick succession, Saints were unable to take advantage and breach Eastbourne's defensive line.

 The final five minutes of the first half saw Eastbourne on the attack, despite an audacious attempt by Ayres at an interception as the ball moved along the Eastbourne backs. It was now Saints turn to be penalised for offside. Eastbourne missed an easy attempt at goal from thirty metres but then, almost as though they could not face the thought of the match being scoreless at half time, Saints contrived to help their opponents make amends. Eastbourne were awarded a penalty forty metres out which became a penalty thirty metres out after a Saints player talked back to the referee and then became a penalty twenty metres out after a bit of off the ball shirt-tugging. Eastbourne had no difficulty in slotting home the penalty kick and as there was no time to re-start the half-time whistle blew with Eastbourne leading 3-0.

 Saints had difficulty winning their own lineout ball throughout the game, even after Adie Perry had replaced Imi Singh at hooker with Damian Poole taking over on the wing. This rather limited Saints attacking potential and with good defensive play by Matt Parish, Paul Smith, Jude Harrison and the dependable John McShane negating Eastbourne's attacks the game developed into a bit of a stalemate. As if to show what might happen with good first phase possession, Saints best attacks developed after rare quick ball from Shannon Millard at a line-out. Firstly when Will Arney took a peel and drove forward and then, with five minutes to go, a spell of sustained pressure from Saints following a line-out brought the dormant game to life. After a number of Saints attacks had been unable to get the play any nearer than twenty metres to the Eastbourne line, the ball fell to Matt Parish who, displaying a cool head on young shoulders, took the pragmatic option and dropped a goal to level the scores.

 There was still time in the last five minutes for either side to win the game as both tired. First Eastbourne attempted a penalty kick from thirty-five metres. It was a kick which would have led the late great Bill McLaren to comment, "he kicked that ball like it were three pounds o'haggis" as the ball showed little inclination to go through the uprights. Finally Saints had an opportunity of a shot at goal with a minute remaining when they were awarded a penalty forty metres out. Perhaps unwisely, given their lack of success at the line-out, they chose a kick to touch. The resulting Saints line-out predictably ended up in the hands of the Eastbourne scrum-half who showed his side were happy to settle for a share of the spoils by kicking the ball to touch for the final whistle to sound.

 Coach Dave Miles described the St Francis performance as rusty after the enforced lay-off and, while they won't be dancing on the streets of Crawley at this performance, the fact that St Francis were able to hold a top of the table side to a draw while being below their best suggests that they could still enjoy a successful season.

Team -  Arney, Singh, Trevaskis, Parsons, Callan, Porter, Millard, Miles, Parish, Kenny, Perry, Smith, Harrison, Ayres, McShane, Poole.