With the first U16 league match coming mid November there could be no excuses that the team would be under prepared and so it proved as the Heath squad put on an excellent all round display to open their account.

Heath started strongly, playing up the hill at Hove RFC, and were ahead after 3 minutes following strong runs by Johnny Denbigh and Toby Simpson which saw Ty Hollands crashing over for an early score. Soon after, a line break by George Harding was followed up by a Linus Tranter sniping run to extend Heath’s advantage. After some great defence, especially by Jamie Dudley, Heath could take further advantage of a quick tap penalty to allow Denbigh to rumble over the try line himself.

Hove hit back from kick off to change the momentum and score in the corner. This led to an attritional set of phases, with both sides showing strong defence and teamwork. As the half drew to a close a strong tackle appeared to stop Hove in their tracks but led to a yellow card for Heath who then had to show great mental strength to play with 14 on the pitch. Despite this situation an opportunist run enabled Tranter to score under the posts meaning half time saw a scoreline of Hove 5 – Heath 26 with the visitors holding the advantage.

As the second half kicked off Christian Roberjot took a great catch and an archetypal burst of speed by Harding saw him going over for a try which gave Heath significant breathing space on the scoreboard.

There followed a spell of good rugby - great defence from Yuwen Liu, some counter running from Will King and strong scrummaging from all the front five. The young Heath U16 forwards were in the groove and playing strongly in the set pieces – meanwhile Carter McArragher and Sam Sears showed real stamina in defending against a determined Hove side.

As Heath controlled possession, the opposition began to tire and this allowed Filip Hewer to run the length of the pitch to score and this was followed by a series of plays that gave Heath a flattering scoreline as Denbigh crashed over again, Denslow scored following good handling in the backs and a Tranter kick through allowed Hewer to score with the final play as darkness loomed. Each try was complemented by great conversions from Brodie Ryrie Smith leaving a full time score of Hove 5 – Heath 57.

Overall a strong performance by the whole squad in their first competitive league match and a Heath U16 squad eagerly looking forward to seeing what the rest of the season holds.