Handsome win ends home fixtures on high
Haywards Heath 68 Steyning 17
Heath’s final league match in the Sussex 2 Premiership saw them beat Steyning at Whitemans Green on a cold but sunny afternoon.
The visitors’ red and black shirts necessitated a kit change for Heath who switched to an unfamiliar yellow and black vintage strip from yesteryear.
The teams were evenly matched at the outset although the writing seemed on the wall for Heath after ten minutes when they conceded an early try. A dog-legged Heath defensive set up after a Steyning lineout saw the visitors pour through the gap and touch down for 0-5.
Heath spurned chances, making several breaks but failing to nail the final pass and it wasn’t until the 20th minute that they finally put some phases together and spin the ball wide for Mitch Day to score wide out on the wing. Tom Wharton knocked over the extras for a slender 7-5 lead.
A couple of minutes later Steyning were back in front after Heath had been over-ambitious trying to play out from their own half. A wayward pass saw the visitors pounce on the loose ball, beat three tackles and score out wide for 7 -10.
Heath responded when the excellent Lewis Goodhall took a ball from the back of a line out and bulldozed his way through for a score under the posts for 14-10, and on the verge of half-time a move from deep saw Wharton and skipper Chris Neill make ground before shifting right for Dougie Kern to score for a 21-10 lead.
The second half saw Heath playing downhill and looking to stretch away from their opponents and after several carries and the ball being swung through the hands from touchline to touchline Wilf Bridges straightened up and injected pace to go in under the posts. Wharton converted for 28-10.
There was no doubting Steyning’s determination and they got back into the game with a series of pick and goes leading to a score of their own under the posts to reduce the deficit to 28-17.
Heath put the game to bed with a quic fire brace of tries. First saw a scrum to Heath in the Steyning 22 moved to midfield, where Bridges again cut back at an angle through defenders for his second for 35-17.
Another break from the rampaging Bridges saw him brought down deep into Steyning territory where a decent clear out and quick ball was moved to full back Kern to score his second for 40-17.
Although conceding those two tries had appeared to put the game out of reach, Steyning attacked again but were repelled by strong and effective Heath tackling which had improved throughout the game.
A scrum to Steyning on halfway saw the ball squirt out from where the opportunistic Heath scrum half Jamie Thurston picked up and shot down the blind-side, out pacing the defence to score in the corner. Wharton stroked the ball over from wide for 47-17.
Heath kept their foot on the gas and running from deep saw Kern score another try before a break from MoM Goodhall saw him offload to veteran second row Dan Shotton to stroll over for 61-17. The last play saw Heath kick a penalty to the corner and from the ensuing line out maul the ball was driven up to the line where James Watson broke off and scored.
The metronomic Wharton banged over the conversion for a tally of 18 points and a final score of 68-17.
Heath face Hastings & Bexhill in the quarter finals of the Bob Rogers Sussex Cup at Whitemans Green on April 23.