RUGBY: H&B’s Dominant Display
10 January: Dartford Valley 7, Hastings & Bexhill 45
MAX MOWBRAY
Hastings & Bexhill’s finest travelled northwards on Saturday for a chilly but bright afternoon at Dartford. This was a great display of community rugby and a strong performance for the boys in blue & white.
H&B’s main training during the week was on speed and intent from kick-off, and the coaching staff will be pleased with the day’s work. Leading the dominant charge from the first whistle, captain Harry Walker opened the scoring after just five minutes of play. His try was calmly converted by winger Sam Surridge: 0-7.
Maintaining this momentum, Hastings quickly scored another, courtesy of George Feeley on the other wing: 0-14.
As the home side struggled to gain a foothold, penalties started to mount up. A well-struck shot at goal from Surridge pushed the score to 0-17 before a spectacular display of hands in motion from the Hastings back line resulted in a try in the corner for centre Joe Field: 0-22 at the break.
MORE OF THE SAME
The second half began much like the first, with H&B firmly on the front foot. Field grabbed his second try, bringing the score to 0-29 and also pulling firmly ahead in the locally coveted Flash v Wriggly Cup. The visitors’ spirits were up but, with the sun setting, the first cracks began to appear.
Emotions were now running high on both sides, and several changes were made. Fly half Bruce Steadman was replaced by Lewis Sealy after acting as a very efficient speed bump on several occasions. Scrum half Ashton Pola was forced to leave the field early with a head injury, giving back row Laurence Maynard a go in his second favourite position on the wing, whilst the capable Surridge took over at 9.
Dartford were then reduced to 14 men following multiple high tackle offences, but managed from the depths of despair to produce their only score of the afternoon: a darting run took Hastings by surprise and rewarded them with a consoling 7 points.
NO COMEBACK
Into the last quarter, veteran hooker Chris Pillow replaced Max Mowbray in the front row and made a quick impact. Any brief dreams of a Dartford comeback were extinguished as Pillow, by name but not by nature, powered over for H&B’s next try: 7-34.
Hastings were now confidently back in control, capitalising clinically on another Dartford sin-bin. A hungry Steadman subbed himself back on to bump and dive his way over the whitewash: 7-41. Then, in the dying minutes, Suphanat Cramp, returning from time off with a broken hand to bolster the Hastings pack, rounded off an excellent team performance by skipping over for a final score of 7-46.
H&B will take confidence from this result – a commanding away victory, built on clean handling and vicious intent. They now go into a two-week break before returning to start their cup campaign against Pulborough in early February.
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