Heath's first home game of the year saw them face south London side Trinity at Whitemans Green. The home side were looking to step up on the pitch after a heavy defeat against Eastbourne the previous weekend but a number of injuries and absentees meant a much changed side was on show.

Heath were left reeling after two early tries put them 0-14 down after just nine minutes. Two unsuccessful attempts to clear their 22 led to the first try and a fortuitous bounce of the ball from a speculative kick from the Trinity fly half accounted for the second of them, leaving Heath potentially staring down the barrel at a long afternoon.

But it was Heath who were next on the board with a forwards drive in the Trinity 22 being finished off by skipper Wilf Bridges who barged over for a try converted by Tom Wharton for 7-14.

Trinity hit back within minutes with Heath conceding a soft try round the front of a lineout from five meters out for 7-19. Good work from the Heath pack saw a penalty kicked to the corner, the line out set and driven over the whitewash for hooker Jack Herbert to score and pull things back to 12-19.

A kick and chase from Heath into the Trinity 22 looked like it might provide the home side with an opportunity to reduce the deficit but it was the visitors who counter attacked from deep and shot up the left wing benefitting from some lackadaisical tackling to score for 12-26 and a healthy half time lead.

It was crucial for Heath to get the next score if they were to hang on in the game and they managed just that. A penalty kicked to touch in the opposition 22 was mauled forward by Heath before a couple of pick and goes took the ruck position to within two metres of the try line, where scrum half Jamie Thurston nipped through a gap and scored. Wharton added the extras for 19-26.

Heath were now well in the game and continued to press but were denied on a couple of occasions when the referee adjudged the ball to have been held up in goal. However they were not to be denied and managed to square the match up when veteran prop Martin McDonagh bulldozed over from a few feet out. Wharton knocked over the conversion for 26-26 and it was game on with the momentum swinging Heath's way.

The restart saw Trinity kick straight into touch meaning a scrum back at halfway for Heath from which they scored their best try of the match. Even though going backwards Bridges was able to pick up and offload to Thurston who dummied and went through the gap before passing right to full back Evan Herbert who drew his man and put centre Jack Lucas through for a try, converted by Wharton, for Heath to take the lead at 33-26 with around eight minutes left to play.

However the drama was not over and Heath shot themselves in the foot by failing to stop an attack down the right wing and all of a sudden it was 33-31 with Trinity missing the conversion. Heath worked their way back up pitch but failed to retain possession . A penalty to Trinity between the halfway and 10 metre line gave the opportunity for a kick at goal and it was knocked over with just two minutes remaining for 33-34.

Heath tried to make some yards but ultimately it was beyond them and the final whistle went. An encouraging fight back with both try and losing bonus points meaning they took something out of the game. However the side will be disappointed that four of the five tries came from basic errors and will know that in this division they cannot afford to be that generous - plenty to work on with restarts a particular problem for Heath but also something to build on with some real teamspirit and determination shown on the park.

Next week sees Heath away to local rivals East Grinstead.

Heath 1st XV Squad: James Fleming; Jack Herbert; Harry Edwards: Dan Shotton; Ellis Dubois; Ben Eustace; Connor Mullins; Wilf Bridges(capt); Jamie Thurston; Tom Wharton; Jack Flower; Nick Main; Jack Lucas; Chris Neill; Evan Herbert; Flinn Herbert; Martin McDonagh; Oli Schlup.