Haywards Heath win on the road to stay second

Heath won 12-0 against Ditchling in a tight away encounter

With Heath averaging almost 40 points a game and Ditchling only conceding an average of eight points a game, this was set-up to be a tight encounter.

Despite heavy rain leading up to kick off and large parts of the pitch under water, the game kicked off in bright sunshine and a stiff breeze blowing off the Downs.

Although the sun was shining, the ball was clearly wet and numerous knock-ons and forward passes resulted in a procession of scrums and very little open play in the opening period.

Challenging conditions meant Heath's game management experience was on show on Saturday

Ditching's set-piece was excellent and it was the home team that edged it at the scrum, with a zippy scrum-half dictating proceedings behind a well drilled pack.

However, Heath's defence was equally as strong with skipper Chris Neil leading from the front and putting in some monster tackles.

The first half of the game was played pretty much in the centre of the pitch, with a couple of outstanding breaks, including one down the right wing for Heath.

The scrambled Ditchling defence prevented the try, but conceded a penalty which was quickly taken by Wilf Bridges to score and add a try to his five-try haul in the last match.

The difficult conversion was missed and the teams went in at half-time 0-5 to Heath, which was probably a fair reflection on the game to that point.

Straight from the restart the Ditchling defence made the mistake of letting the kick bounce and, with no player controlling the ball, monster second row Jack Hart gathered and scored in the corner.

With the wind now helping, skipper Neil secured the conversion to stretch Heath’s lead.

The second half continued to be an almost mirror image of the first, with some fine solo breaks from both sides and Ditchling were probably unlucky not to pull a try back, but Heath's defence was resolute and secured a 0-12 final score and consolidated second place in the league table.

The conditions were not the best but both sets of players gave it their all and left nothing out on the pitch.

Heath's next fixture is against league leaders Shoreham at Whitemans Green on Saturday, November 13.

It will be an exciting encounter can be anticipated which will determine Heath’s fixture list for the remainder of the season.

All support welcome and pre-match lunch will be served in the HHRFC clubhouse, where the England international against Australia will be shown afterwards.