Heath cope with difficult conditions and tricky opposition to maintain unbeaten run

By Sarah Fry
Published 21st Dec 2015, 09:55 BST
Difficult underfoot conditions made life difficult for the forwards against Horsham IIDifficult underfoot conditions made life difficult for the forwards against Horsham II
Difficult underfoot conditions made life difficult for the forwards against Horsham II

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With a gusty wind sweeping across a steeply sloping pitch, Heath squared up against Horsham on Saturday in a feisty pre-Christmas encounter.

Both the turbulent weather conditions and a challenging pitch saw both sides testing each other during in the opening minutes.

The uneven ground led to many missed footings and slips throughout the game and, most seriously, saw Guy Sandys-Renton leave the pitch with what looked like a serious knee injury after his first start at 9 this season. This meant Sam Galbraith was on the pitch at full back with Jack Best moving into an unfamiliar position at scrum half.

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Eventually Peter Kerins, who was yellow carded early on for a misdemeanour, broke the deadlock with a try and conversion putting Heath ahead on the scoreboard. Play continued back and forth with both sides challenging each other to the max before Horsham pressure told and they eventually equalised just before half time making the score 7-7 at the break.

Heath worked hard to secure another victory away from home v Horsham IIHeath worked hard to secure another victory away from home v Horsham II
Heath worked hard to secure another victory away from home v Horsham II

The second half saw Heath playing downhill with the wind behind them and Roscoe Atkins collected from midfield and kicked down field surprising the Horsham number 15 who misfielded enabling Roscoe to collect after a 40 meter chase and go over the line to score. A successful conversion by Kerins followed and put Heath back in front, 7-14.

Fresh legs were required and Dan Fergusson and Wilf Bridges were replaced by Patrick Sandys-Renton and Huw Jenkins who sneaked a kick through towards the Horsham line for Jack Lucas to touch down and Kerins to convert giving Heath more breathing space in their quest to maintain their league position, 7-21.

Horsham had not given up and an interception followed by a run of over three-quarters of the pitch saw Horsham go over the line and score but with no conversion the score was still in Heath’s favour at 12-21.