RUGBY
Heroic defence not enough
Hastings and Bexhill 6
Park House 10
By Peter Knight
Despite some excellent, indeed heroic, defensive work from the whole Hastings & Bexhill squad, Kent League leaders Park House ran out narrow victors of a very hard fought game on 15 January. The visiting team included some very big, strong men, and the home defence was always under pressure.
The game started badly for H&B when centre Dan Suggitt had to be helped from the pitch with a torn calf muscle after only 30 seconds play. He was replaced by Tom Waring, who produced an excellent display in only his third game of the season.
H&B (in blue & white) in action against Park House
CREDIT: Yellow Rose Photography
Hastings took the lead after an initial venture into the opposition 22 with a well-struck penalty kick from skipper Bruce Steadman. The Park House defence were adjudged not to have released the ball after a tackle and the scrum-half duly slotted the kick from about 30 metres out.
A bizarre incident led to Park House taking the lead. The usually reliable Louis Sealy attempted a clearance kick from the base of the scrum; but pressure from the Park House forwards forced him into miskicking and the ball ended up going backwards over the dead ball line. From the ensuing scrum the visitors’ pack won the ball and released their back line, the centre crashing through to score under the posts. The conversion was successful, and they were four points to the good.
The Hastings pack contain some strong men of their own: the McManus family all played well, and the second row powerhouse of Matt Stringer and Calvin Crosby-Clarke held Park House at bay for long periods of the game. On another rare venture into their opponents’ 22, H&B won another penalty kick. Steadman was again successful and at half time there was a single point deficit: H&B 6, Park House 7.
At the interval, assistant coach Dave Hirst swapped Jack Hardy for Josh Jones in the front row. The game continued in the same vein. Harry Walker made a number of defensive tackles and worked hard to release his back line, but Park House dominated both territory and possession, and there was little for the home supporters to cheer.
The hard-working Ben Bailey was replaced by Jack Mather, and Hardy returned for player-coach Steve McManus. Unfortunately these changes did not alter the pattern of the game.
Park House missed a couple of penalty kicks at goal but eventually increased their lead with a well-taken penalty from 40 metres out.
A bonus point for losing by less than seven points was H&B’s only reward for a very hard afternoon’s work. However, given that Park House had won all previous nine league games with an average margin of over 35 points, they could feel proud of their efforts.
H&B had no game last Saturday but return to action tomorrow (Saturday) at home to Brockleians. If the league title is clearly beyond them now, a runners-up honour and promotion play-off position remain to be fought for.
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