Lewes RFC U13 (15) 35 v Hastings & Bexhill RFC U13 (15) 40

Lewes RFC U13 (15) 35 v Hastings & Bexhill RFC U13 (15) 40

Sunday 31st October 2021 @ 11am

The weather was atrocious with wind, rain and waterlogged conditions. Hastings & Bexhill brought a squad of 18. 4 quarters of at least 15 minutes.

Lewes started brightly and pinned H&B back with well executed kicking and strong running, forcing H&B to turn and play in the wrong areas of the pitch. They quickly raced in a 10 – 0 lead and it took a real effort from H&B to prevent any further Lewes scores. The forwards working hard to make the scrums and breakdown much more competitive. At the end of the quarter, targeted kicking put H&B in better field position. From a strong scrum, accurate passing gave Ben Coulson the opportunity to score in the corner. End of first quarter: 10-5.

H&B started the second ¼ well. William Roberts launching a couple of kicks that were well chased. The rucks continued to be contested and the scrums held. From another searching kick, again by the captain, Lewes were unable to cope with the H&B chase and Rupert Sheppard picked up loose ball to score in the corner.

Lewes replied with another of their own, taking advantage of wet conditions. However, H&B were not to be deterred and came back strongly. Another kick and chase leading to an alert try from Jonah Cowell who had a strong game throughout at fly-half.
Half time: 15-15.

The coaches made some changes in key positions. Monty Wheeler spent valuable time at centre, Jared Dobinson at scrum-half and Finley Davies at full-back. All acquitted themselves well.

It was heavy going underfoot and both sides showed good fitness throughout. H&B started the third act strongly with three excellent but very different tries from William, 2 from Monty. However, this quarter drifted on for a very long 15 minutes and Lewes came back into it with three good scores of their own. End of third quarter: 30-30.

The last quarter was a real war of attrition, testing both team in fitness and desire. H&B demonstrated real intent and purpose with a series of attacks and eventually they broke free, giving Zane space to run through and score. H&B put another series of punishing moves together in good field position, eventually allowing Ben to score his 2nd try and the teams 8th, for an excellent victory over fine opponents.