Cinque Ports close out Hellingly for Ninth Win

Hellingly II 17 Cinque Ports Rugby 22 (HT 3-17)

Cinque Ports have faced Hellingly more than any other club in Sussex, and the CPR knew to expect a physical direct style from the hosts this combined with a swampy pitch meant that a war of attrition always seemed likely. The early stages seemed to echo this, the collision area was fiercely contested and Hellingly looked to disrupt which meant that Chris Eastwood and Paul Smart struggled to unleash the potent back line, Hellingly had trouble with handling which saw the ball in scrummages more than in open play. When CPR did get the ball open, a quick backs move saw Carl Malthouse step up into the line to offload to Michael Dangerfield. The pacy winger outstripped the Hellingly defence and dotted down under the posts. Captain Paul Smart drilled the conversion. Hellingly seemed to struggle to get any continuity, and CPR took advantage of this. The CPR defence often blitzing a flat footed attack as they tried to organise themselves, Greg Stokes and Craig Barningham regularly breaking down attacks. Hellingly also placed pressure on themselves by giving away a number of penalties, from a quickly taken penalty Smart saw the ball through the hands of the back before Lloyd Barthropp on the other wing finished well from the 22 by cutting in at a sharp angle which left the defence outmanned and out positioned. Smart failed with the tough conversion. Hellingly looked to counter attack and a number of offences by CPR saw Hellingly within striking distance of the Cinque Ports line. A few attacks were easily snaffled up by the defence so the hosts elected to kick the penalty. CPR seemed to dominate now, a good forwards rumble by Tim Gough and Nick Giles took them into Hellingly territory with ease. Centre Rob Fink also had a good opportunity in a lot of space but elected to run instead of releasing the men outside him, and was tackled. Fink did make amends, another run saw him release to Dangerfield whilst drawing the tackle, the winger promptly run into the gap in defence and scored his second. Again Smart narrowly missed the conversion. With half time looming Hellingly looked to change their game plan, shorter passes and a rolling maul and as the whistle blew they seemed to take greater control of the game. the second half started in the same way, and despite great defence particularly by Rob Tritton and Stokes it was inevitable that Hellingly would crash over, which ensued from a scrappy lineout. The arrival of impact player Christiaan Brandt had a positive effect though and after a period of handling mistakes and seemingly never ending scrummages, Stokes broke through the defence with a clever dummy and released the rangy South African. Brandt effortlessly accelerated away from despairing tackles to slide over in the corner. Smart again could not convert from the touchline. The game seemed won at this point and again Hellingly raised the pace, this combined with a number of penalties saw them crash over for a second try. With only a five point lead CPR had to defend desperately, with Barningham, Tritton, Stokes and Smart all weighing in with important tackles but it was with great relief that Chris Eastwood brought proceedings to an end with a little flick into touch.

Team Manager Gavin Thomas was pleased with the result "We came to win and that's what we achieved. I think we made it a little difficult for ourselves but the conditions meant that our ambition to spread the ball wide was unlikely and Hellingly know how to play that pitch effectively". Head Coach Bill Langley was also pleased with the result, and named Tim Gough and Greg Stokes as his men of the match. "Gough was there at every break down" and Stokes was "dangerous in attack and defence"

Team: Earle, Giles, Tritton, Gough, Parker, Thomas (Brandt), Dedman, Barningham, Eastwood, Smart, Stokes, Fink (Price), Barthropp (Bigg), Dangerfield, Malthouse (Waughman) Sub not used: Weale                                                        27.03.2010