Haywards Heath received the kick off and immediately put Rye under pressure, but the poor conditions led to handling mistakes from both sides resulting in a number of early scrums. Haywards Heath however had a very strong scrum, even pushing Rye off their own put in.

Apart from the scrum, both sides were well matched, each creating a number of opportunities, which came to nothing until an interception on halfway allowed George Snow to score unopposed under the posts. Marc Cashman’s conversion made the score 7-0 after 9 minutes.

This gave Haywards Heath some extra confidence and they managed to create some continuity in the Rye half with a series of rucks and off loads, and with a penalty advantage on the Rye 22, a cross field kick from fly half Baz Yousuf was well gathered by winger Luke Fry who scored down the right. Unfortunately the conversion was not achieved; score 12-0 after 19 minutes.

Rye came back strongly forcing Haywards Heath back towards their line with a good passage of play, and despite good Haywards Heath defence, Rye were able to outnumber the defenders and create an overlap with a cross field kick to score down their right wing. Rye missed the conversion and the score was now 12-5 at about 31 minutes.

The first half was played out with no further decisive moves from either side. HT = 12-5.

The second half started in the manner as the first; mistakes from both sides, and with the Haywards Heath scrum still in charge. A series of plays close to the Rye line was well defended causing the Haywards Heath players to get frustrated. However, Heath were awarded a penalty and after a quick tap and go the ball was spread wide from a ruck to put replacement winger Mike Chard, on for the injured George Snow, in the left-hand corner to score. No conversion, score 17-5 at 52 minutes.

After the restart neither side could gain the upper hand as the conditions continued to play their part, but eventually Haywards Heath pushed Rye back to their line, before being rewarded with another penalty. This was taken quickly by scrum half Will Mayle to back row Alex Chard who offloaded out of the tackle Andy Borland who went over to score in the left corner. No conversion, but Haywards Heath had now scored 4 tries for the bonus point. Score 22-5 at 62 minutes.

Rye now had to chase the game, and a series of strong runs put Rye on the front foot pushing Heath back into their 22. Although the defence was strong Rye were awarded a penalty for Heath backchat to the ref, this was taken quickly and fed to their outside centre who had a been a strong runner throughout the game and he crashed over in the right corner with about 4 minutes to go. The conversion was missed, the score was now 22-10.
A tense few final minutes followed with Rye looking for a 3rd try, which would have given them a losing bonus point. But the Haywards Heath scrum continued its dominance and retained possession before being awarded a couple of penalties to pin Rye back into their own territory before end the game by kicking the final penalty into touch.

Final score 22-10.

The game was played in very difficult conditions in continuous rain and with standing water evident in many places on the pitch, nevertheless good rugby was played at times by both teams. A good Haywards Heath team performance overall, with an excellent scrum, but general decision making was poor at times with too much kicking instead of keeping the ball in hand, however another 5 point win (for the 3rd time this season). And despite the conditions three of the four Haywards Heath tries were scored by wingers showing Heaths desire to play the ball.

Two players made their Rams debut: Ben Ventham and John Sage.

Man of the match was Alex Chard

Team:
1. Jez Hill
2. Max Drage
3. Will Arney
4. Dan Shotton
5. Henry Dickson
6. Alex Chard
7. Jon Sage
8. Dan Fergusson
9. Will Mayle
10. Baz Yousuf
11. George Snow
12. Jo Feldman
13. Ben Ventham
14. Luke Fry
15. Marc Cashman

16. Andy Borland
17. Mike Chard