U16s target County final after massive victory
East Grinstead U16 0, HHRFC U16 Hurricanes 48 The Haywards Heath RFC U16 Hurricanes stayed on course to reach the County League final in April with an impressive 48-0 win away at East Grinstead in difficult conditions on Sunday.
This was the first of their threeremainingleaguematches thisseason,withtheHurricanes needingtowinallthreetoreach the end of season showpiece.
It was perhaps this motivation that resulted in what was arguably the most complete performance of the season so far from the Heath U16 squad.
Fromthefirstwhistle,Heath overpowered and dominated their opponents on a wet and muddy pitch not ideally suited to the expansive game they prefer to play.
The forwards were able to provide a solid platform to enable the Hurricanes to enjoy territorial advantage, and Sam Denslow went over for the first try of the game under the posts after a strong carry through the East Grinstead midfield, which he then converted for 7-0 lead.
Notlongafterwards,captain JoshHenleyGowerpoweredhis way over for the first of his four tries in what was a powerful individual display, with Denslow converting for a 14-0 lead.
East Grinstead lost one of their most influential forwards earlyinthegame,anditseemed the writing was on the wall for the home team in the face of a Heath team who were relentless in everything they did.
Once again, some powerful ball carrying by the forwards createdquickball30metresout from the Grinstead line, which JamesBroydexploitedtothefull with a lovely outside break, beforedeliveringawelltimedpass for Christian Benstead-Schlup to go over in the right corner.
The Hurricanes weren't finished yet though, with Henley Gower scoring his second try of the game, and the outstanding ArchieFrancisgettinghisname on the scoresheet after taking a typically direct line through the Grinstead midfield to touch down. Denslow converted both tries to put the Hurricanes in a seemingly unassailable 33-0 lead at half time.
Afterthebreak,hookerTheo Polhill scored the first of the
Hurricanes tries in the second half, before Rory March ran the perfectlinefromfullbacktotake ashortpassintheoutsidechannel to set up a ruck just metres from the Grinstead line.
The unstoppable Henley Gower collected the ball at the baseofthebreakdownandwent over for his third try to extend the Hurricanes lead to 43-0.
There was still time for one more try in the final minutes through, and Henley Gower, having moved from prop to number 8 in the second half, produced a trademark finish with a pick and go from the base of a scrum ten metres out from the Grinstead line.
The final score of 48-0 was very well deserved by a strong and determined Hurricanes squad. This was a fine team performancewitheverysingleplayermakingsignificantindividual contributions.
HeathHurricanesmustnow wintheremainingtwomatches against Chichester and Guernsey,bothmatchesatWhitemans Green, to reach the County final. A big challenge but one the HeathU16squadwillbeworking hard to achieve over the coming weeks.
Heath Hurricanes U16 squad: Finley Baffoe-Garley; JakeBates;WillBates;Christian Benstead-Schlup;JamesBroyd; PaddyCowan;SamDenslow;Oscar Clark; Archie Francis; Josh HenleyGower;RoryMarch;Arlo Merchant; Monty Oliver; Theo Polhill; Quincy Selelo; Mylo Smith; James Whalley; George Wiscombe; Leon Zeelie;
Heath 32, Worthing 15 Haywards Heath RFC Colts continued on their unbeaten run on Sunday with a hard fought victory in the league against Worthing.
A tough and physical encounter in very difficult conditions saw Heath cross over for five tries. The pick of them was the final try created from continuous forward pressure on the Worthing defence and then some slick handling from the Heath back line to get the ball to OscarMannwhoevadedtwodefenderstoscoreundertheposts.
This follows a 34-12 victory last week with a win over Jersey in the quarter-final of the Sussex Cup. A really strong team performance was needed to defeat a strong Jersey side in a match that went ahead thanks to Horsham RFC due to pitch conditions elsewhere. Heath again scored five very good tries including an exceptional solo effort from Kai Dolan to set up walk-in for Tom Bishop.
Maintaining their seasonlongfocusforawinintheirfinal league game of the season next monthwouldmakeHeathColts backtobackleagueChampions.
Haywards Heath 12, Horsham Lions 47
Seven days after beating league leaders Pulborough a mixed Heath side faced HorshamLionsinthesemi-finalofthe Bob Rogers Cup showing eight changes to the previous week's squad.
AnearlypenaltytoHorsham was countered by Heath with a try from Will Purdy for 5-3 who then had to leave the field injured for the remainder of the game.
Horshamstartedtotakecontrol with impressive ruck speed leading to their 10 and 12 combination setting up multiple attacks which saw them take the lead with three well taken tries.
AmissedpenaltyfromHeath and the inability to convert two goldentryscoringopportunities meant they remained down at the break.
Straight from the restart Horsham were on the board again with their influential fly half continuing to pull the strings. Three more tries followed in a clinical performance from the visitors before Heath started to play in the final 10 minutes of the game leading to a consolation try for full-back Gabe Moore converted by Tom Wharton.
Horsham had the last score ofthegamethoughforacomprehensive 12-47 victory.
Next week sees Heath needing to knuckle back down to league action at Uckfield.