RUGBY
Hard work for H & B
By Peter Knight
Old Dunstonians 24,
Hastings & Bexhill 3
The new season sees Hastings & Bexhill moving up to Level 8 of the English rugby pyramid. Reorganisation by Kent RFU has placed the 1st XV in County Division 2 alongside some very useful teams, including the 2nd XVs of senior clubs such as Westcombe Park, Sevenoaks and Canterbury.
Last Saturday H&B travelled to Beckenham for their first league game of the season against Old Dunstonians (ODs), a club well used to playing at this level. The Hastings team worked hard and for the most part matched their larger and slicker opponents.
Bruce Steadman in action for H&B
CREDIT: Peter Knight
Coach Steve McManus gave 1st XV debuts to James Gardner at fly half and Matt Garvin at No 8. Both made good contributions and will be assets in the future. There were also notable performances from full back Harry Walker, Matt Stringer in the second row, Louis Sealy on the flank and skipper Bruce Steadman at scrum half.
The ODs scored two good tries in the first half and led 12-3 at the interval after Steadman kicked a penalty to bring H & B back into the contest.
For the first 25 minutes of the second half H&B put their hosts under considerable pressure but were unable to
turn this into points. Chris Geary and Chris Pillow came off the subs bench for the hard-working Joe Jenner and Joe Field, who had also played well. H&B’s resolve was maintained, and only stout defence prevented them from narrowing the points gap. However, the ODs eventually scored two more tries to clinch a bonus point win. They were just that little bit quicker in thought and action. H&B will aim to develop these skills in the coming weeks.
• Tomorrow (Saturday 24 September) they entertain Sevenoaks II at their Ark Alexandra ground, 3.00pm
kick off.
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