Haywards Heath RFC enjoy a Barns-storming afternoon

With the pitches in great shape a sunny, blustery but cold afternoon was set up for a tight contest and just what the supporters needed after a rugby club lunch.

The early skirmishes saw Heath with the upper hand and, but for a couple of wind assisted forward passes, they could have been ahead within the first 10 minutes as they cut through the visitors’ defence twice.

On 15 minutes the home side did go ahead after Tom Wharton straightened the line and offloaded in the tackle to Dougie Kern who was stopped just short of the line only for supporting scrum half Matt Ashley to dart over in the left hand corner for 5-0.

While Barns Green were into the Heath half from the restart, quick Heath hands again saw the ball moved wide and a run and off load from Samuela Bulitkavale-Lancaster found Lewis Goodhall on the inside to cross for 10-0.

New sponsors boost Heath.

Heath continued to push and fine work from the forwards saw them deep into the Barns Green 22 from where they continued to drive up to the line for a try as No8 Fraser Russell emerged from the bottom of the pack with a score for 15-0.

Barns Green did manage to get territory and the strong forwards pack showed intent.

Finally with some time in possession they started to show why they had been unbeaten for much of the season and put the Heath defence under some real pressure.

Hectic weekend of action at Heath.

On 39 minutes that pressure told and they went over for a try to pull it back to 15-7 and suddenly playing with the wind in the second half it was game on for the visitors.

Heath made some changes at half-time and playing downhill but into a fierce wind started quickly and tried to stretch the Barns Green defence. The ball was shifted wide right where Bulitkavale-Lancaster streaked clear of the stretched defence for 20-7.

Another attack from deep in their own half saw Heath’s back row Wilf Bridges make decent yardage with an abrasive charge before offloading to centre Jack Flower who cut a great line through defenders to go in for the try, 25-7.

Another mighty effort from the Heath pack saw them drive hooker Goodhall over for his second of the match – 30-7. Centre Harry Shields put the icing on the cake with a well-balanced run past three defenders to score, with Flower adding the extras for 37-7.

This was a tough game for Heath and they had to battle really hard to contain the strong Barns Green pack and starve them of possession. The integration of colts with last year’s colts and more experienced senior players is working well.

The following, Heath Colts beat championship side Uckfield in the Sussex Colts Cup. After a tough first half playing into the wind and rain Heath eventually ran out winners by 52-5.

* Haywards Heath RFC’s under-tens hosted arch-rivals and best-friends Burgess Hill RFC - plus Pulborough RFC - for some joint training matches.

In a season that has been much disjointed and disrupted due to Covid, it was fantastic to see so many Year 5 rugby enthusiasts from the area running around in the fresh air and enjoying themselves, while learning new rugby skills.

Among great tries and super tackles, all matches were played in tremendous spirit and good sportsmanship.

And it certainly bodes well for rugby in Mid Sussex in the years ahead.