Hastings & Bexhill Under 16s faced a talented Eastbourne Under 16 team as the rugby season resumed once more after the Christmas festivities. Eastbourne kicked off into the azure sky on a chilly, but sunny day made for rugby. The opening salvos from both teams often petered out as the inevitable rustiness made its mark. Neither team ventured into their opponents 22 until Eastbourne started to retain the ball more effectively as they reduced their error count. As momentum built in their favour, Eastbourne’s attack looked increasingly sharp and were held-up on the try line by a resolute H & B defence. H & B could not escape their half and the lively Eastbourne backs off-loaded to a prop who was held-up on the line. The damage was done as H & B’s defenders were now facing a barrage of short breaks from the Eastbourne forwards who were able to power over and score the opening try which was converted to take a 7-0 lead.

H & B applied good pressure on the restart and were finally able to pin Eastbourne back in their own half. The game began to see-saw back in H & B’s favour with their aggressive line and rucking starting to force Eastbourne further back and to become more frantic as H & B began to find holes to exploit. Prop Azat Kesen placed a grubber kick behind the Eastbourne defence and pressure from H & B forced an error from the Eastbourne full back in his own goal area which Azat was able to exploit to score Hastings first try and bring the score back to 5-7.

Eastbourne were re-energised and executed some flowing rugby as they moved the ball between the backs only to be stopped by the side-lines or a scrambling H & B defence. H & B surrendered a penalty and Eastbourne executed an effective maul from the resulting line-out which was stopped just short of the line. There was sufficient space for the Eastbourne scrum-half to release their flanker to score a converted try and extend the lead further to 5-14 at half-time.

H & B started the second half well and showed some ambition in attack epitomised by full back Ben Coulson who made excellent ground down the left wing and was tap tackled just as the try line was beckoning. Once more H & B were on the attack and forced errors from Eastbourne and started to win more ball from the line-out. A backs move was only stopped by the sideline and another was only ended by a handling error. Not converting in this passage of dominance proved fatal. Indecision on how to handle an Eastbourne clearance allowed the scrum half to pick up the ball and side-step two H & B defenders and score a superb solo try between the posts. Although this was unconverted, the score was now 5-19 with time starting to run out.

H & B have always demonstrated resilience and have mounted many superb come-backs. This fighting spirit was on show when Monty Wheeler danced through the Eastbourne defence only to be stopped by a last ditch tackle. Shortly after an Eastbourne player was shown a yellow card for dissent and H & B were able to capitalise as Monty ran on to a ball kicked behind the Eastbourne defence and scored a try which was converted to bring the game back to a 7 point margin.

Just as the grandstand finish looked on once more for the valiant youngsters, the whistle was blown and the heroics of last season could not be repeated. On balance, the result was fair and the real winner was rugby values as both teams shook hands and could reflect on a close contest between two well matched and talented teams.

Hastings & Bexhill RFC are always looking to recruit new players from 5 years old – adult, girls and boys of all abilities. Please see our website www.hastingsrugby.org or email minis.rugby@hastingsrugby.org for more information. Hastings & Bexhill RFC prides itself on a warm welcome to all. Come and have a free, no obligation try out.

Written by Philip Usher