This was a dour game in parts played in the winter sunshine.

Saturday 6th December 2014 Report By: Alan Schofield
This was a dour game in parts, but Folkestone could not contain a strengthened Heathfield team who, after losing the lead twice, finished up the better side.
History shows that Heathfield & Waldron have had the edge on results with Folkestone and they were promoted in 2011 to Division 2. But life was tough for them, just escaping relegation twice before coming bottom of the table, with only 2 victories last season. Thus they are now back in familiar territory and vying with Folkestone for the ‘best of the rest’ position in the league table.
Another reshuffled side saw Folkestone take the field with Ben Williams at full back to make his first XV debut. Three more positional changes were forced upon the coaching team and The Stones were immediately put to a test of defence as Heathfield & Waldron started strongly.
The home team forwards were stretched and when Richie Bowen won a race from a kick through to touch down in his own in-goal it was a relief to regain territory to the 22 line for the drop kick re-start. Heathfield fielded the ball but John Eustace put in a crunching tackle causing the ball to fall loose. Jon Morton snapped it up, saw a gap, and ran clear before timing a lovely pass to Ben Williams who ran in a try from 50 metres. Jon Morton failed with the conversion, and the 5 – 0 lead after only 6 minutes was the reward for sound defence and opportunism in attack.
The oomph that Folkestone showed against Lewes was nullified by a young, strong and heavy Heathfield pack and although holding their ground, they were unable to make the hard yards. There was no advantage to either side in the line outs; therefore the set pieces were fairly equal. But Heathfield created advantages in loose play and in the rucks, helped by a succession of penalties against Folkestone. It was from one of these, awarded in front of the posts, that Heathfield scored 3 points after a 20 minute period of mostly centre field play. 5-3.
Heathfield had a tactic of kicking the ball long from their own half, but Ben Williams, Jon Morton and Thomo Murray all fielded safely. Unfortunately Jon Morton was sin-binned for retaliation when clearly held off the ball, and to make matters worse the formidable Richie Bowen had his nose broken and was taken to hospital. More re-shuffling brought on Matt Roots at prop but two more penalties took Heathfield to the 5 metre zone and, winning the ball from the ensuing line-out, they had the momentum to score a pushover try, converted to leave Folkestone behind 5 – 10 at half time.
The second half saw Heathfield pile on the pressure but after a Folkestone fight back Heathfield conceded a yellow card for transgressing and 3 points from Jon Morton. 8-10. However two minutes later Folkestone gave away a penalty which Heathfield kicked to make it 8-13. Two kickable penalties in quick succession were awarded Jon Morton failed with the first from a distance and the second, from nearer, went just wide. However from the drop out restart Matt Roots seized the ball and occupied half the opposing forwards – leaving holes in an otherwise solid looking Heathfield defence. He gave short pass to Tom Carvill who used his weight and strength to force his way over to score a try, converted by Jon Morton and put the home side in the lead again . 8-10. Two kickable penalties in quick succession were awarded but Jon Morton failed with the first from a distance and the second, from nearer, went just wide. However from the drop out restart Matt Roots seized the ball and occupied half the opposing forwards – leaving holes in an otherwise solid looking Heathfield defence. He gave short pass to Tom Carvill who used his weight and strength to force his way over to score a try, converted by Jon Morton and put the home side in the lead again 15 – 13.
But Heathfield came back strongly and in the final 20 minutes they were able to dominate possession and field position. It looked as though a try was inevitable as attack after attack was thwarted by superb defence. Charlie Millen, Ben Stringer and Chris Petley worked tirelessly to contain their opposite numbers, but play stubbornly remained in the home 22 metre zone.
In a five minute period, after an hour of play, Heathfield showed two classical rugby moves, set up by the forwards and moving the ball quickly out to the right – creating an overlap and two tries out on the right wing. An unconverted try after 63 minutes making it 15-18, followed by a converted one at 68 minutes. 15 – 25.

Folkestone tried to run the ball out of defence when they were able to get possession, but this was possibly the wrong option – a good long downfield kick into touch could have given them a little space to work in. As it was, a dour defensive game was all they had to resort to and it was a credit to the fitness of every member of the Folkestone team that they were able to restrict a lively and confident Heathfield team in the second half to two tries.
Although Folkestone did not lose their 5th place table position, five teams are now within one score of each other. Next week Folkestone travel to Bromley to conclude the first half of the fixture list.

Team: Ben Williams; Thomo Murray, Ross Dempsey, John Eustace, Richie Bowen; Jon Morton (Capt), Lewis Howland; Tom Carvill, Steve Doughty, ‘Moose’ Murray; Josh Kemp, Ben Stringer; Charlie Millen, Chris Petley, Miles Dempsey.
Subs: Mat Roots, Will Turner.
Scorers: Ben Williams 5; Jon Morton 3, 2; Tom Carvill 5.