 01 Feb 2010, 2:20 PM
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Shannon
 
Joined on 08-01-2007
Posts 27
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St Francis 6 - Heathfield & Waldron II 12 on 30/1/10
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Sussex "Canterbury Jack" Intermediate League
Heathfield and Waldron 12 St Francis 6
After an overnight flurry of snow left the Heathfield & Waldron second pitch unplayable, unless you were playing ice hockey, both Saint Francis and the Heathfield 2nd XV were forced to move pitches to the nearby old Waldron ground just before scheduled kickoff. This led to the Saints having a disorganized warm-up and did not put them in the right frame of mind for what promised to be one of the most difficult games of the season.
However come kickoff the Saints managed to put this all behind them and come out firing on all cylinders from the start. Some solid defense was shown early on by the Saints who managed to stop a few waves of Heathfield attack before turning over the ball and managing to put the ball behind the Heathfield players. The Heathfield winger managed to hastily clear his lines from the St Francis players bearing down on him but before both teams were allowed to rest, St Francis flanker Shannon Millard took an opportunistic quick throw-in to team mate Paul Smith who managed to jink his way through the unorganised defense and head for the try line. Smith was stopped short but managed to get the ball back thanks to some good support play from his centre partner Jude Harrison and the Saints battered away at the Heathfield try-line through some strong short drives from locks Dave Callan and Tony Parsons. With the Saints plying on the pressure a Heathfield player gave away a penalty by coming in at the side of the maul and left the Saints no option but to go for goals from 5m out. St Francis flyhalf Shane Kenny duly obliged with the kick and the Saints jogged back to the halfway line 3-0 up.
It might have been all the effort that had just been put in but the St Francis team immediately went to sleep from the re-start giving away possession and territory to the Heathfield team. After some resolute defense eventually the pressure was too much and the Heathfield team managed to exploit an overlap and score in the far right hand corner. The conversion was not added and the Saints were 5-3 down.
This fired up both teams and from the re-start they both played some solid passages of rugby with both teams looking evenly matched in attack and defense. Unluckily the Saints suffered a set back mid way through the half, when their flying blindside flanker Liam Kind suffered a dislocated shoulder which caused problems with the Saints having no forward substitutes on the bench. The Saints in haste made an unlikely substitution in bringing on scrumhalf Alan McArdle to move the versatile Matt Parish onto the wing and bring the solid winger Alper Aydin onto the blindside flank. Aydin, who had never played in the forwards before, put in a stunning performance in the backrow that won him many plaudits from his fellow teammates with his bravery and never give-up attitude.
The first half ended with Heatfield just in front 5-3.
St Francis came out fired up after the break and put as much pressure as possible on Heathfield to narrow the margin immediately after the re-start. The Saints aimed to score next so that they could put the pressure back on Heathfield before both teams started to tire. After a prolonged period of pressure, a penalty was awarded to the Saints and captain Adrian Perry elected to take a kick at goal. Kenny obliged and the Saints were back in front 6-5.
Cue 25 minutes of frantic hard-nosed rugby from both teams. In defence there were some notable huge tackles were made by Saints centre Harrison, one leaving the Heathfield fullback gasping for air. With the set plays captain Perry was pinpoint accurate with his throwing in at the lineouts and Chris Page, playing in his first game back after a serious injury, commanded the lineout with his aerial expertise. This all led to the Saints taking control off the game for a large portion of the remaining time. The Heathfield team though managed to cause a few concerns when their centre made a few line breaks from turnover ball in open play. Thankfully the covering Kenny and Millard managed to stop one break-away, that looked certain for a try, just inches short.
With 60 seconds left on the clock the Saints were awarded a penalty and from the resulting line-out, did a catch and drive that was held together nicely by the solid props, Will Arney and Simon Trevaskis as the Saints wound the clock down. With the game looking certain for the Saints, fly half Kenny put kicked the ball behind the Heathfield defence but as the ball left his foot he caught an opposition players elbow in the face which felled him pretty hard leaving him bloodied and confused. The St Francis players, certain that an offence worthy of a penalty had been made, went to sleep as the referee was un-sited and let the Heathfield backline counter attack. They duly took advantage and exploited the dogleg defence to it’s fullest and managed a breakaway try that left the St Francis players aggrieved. The conversion was added and the Saints were left stunned that they had thrown away a hard fought victory in injury time. The losing bonus point seemed to be a bitter consolation for such a good performance from the traveling Saints.
Team - Arney, Perry, Trevaskis, Parsons, Callan, King, Millard, Page, Parish, Kenny, Aydin, Smith, Harrison, Poole, McShane - Res: McArdle, Williams
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