Cinque Ports miss out again

Cinque Ports 24     27  Heathfield & Waldron III  (HT 10-10)

For the third successive week it was a case of what might have been for Cinque Ports. The sight of Paul Smart's final minute penalty just wide of the posts a real sign of how close it had been. The game had started with the same small margins. CPR placed Heathfield under pressure from the kick off, but it became quite apparent that the experienced Heathfield side would be strong at the collision and would win their fair share of ruck ball. Ironically it was an offence at the ruck that gave Cinque Ports their first opportunity with Smart drilling home the penalty. Full Back Ross Kearney again combined well with Smart. Kearney gave some direction with strong running and Smart made a number of testing kicks. Despite their best efforts a number of rumbling phases saw Heathfield score to take a 5-3 lead. Heathfield seemed to be energised by this and were denied by a forward pass before crashing over from a scrum. Having seen opposition run away early on for two games in a row Cinque Ports raised their game, flying Scotsman Simon Baillie launched a huge kick that Kearney was unlucky not to touch down from. An injury meant the Irishman was replaced at Full Back by Greg Stokes, but CPR continued to dominate. Craig Barningham, Dean Dedman and Vince Page all rumbled towards the line but were held out before captain Chris Eastwood took a quick tap penalty and the hulking Barningham could not be denied. Smart converted to tie the scores.

Heathfield again started the stronger of the two teams, but solid work from Dedman at the scrum and destructive work by Barningham at the ruck ensured Cinque Ports were still winning their fair share of ball. Luke Price was unlucky not to hold a flicked pass from Stokes, but Heathfield were still dangerous and CPR were let off when the visitors dropped the ball with the line waiting. Heathfield began to wage a war of attrition as a raft of penalties led to scrums but a more solid 8 and excellent work from Dedman saw Heathfield held up over the line on 3 occasions. Cinque Ports showing a gutsy will to tackle on their own line despite the battering from the powerful  Heathfield pack. A good clearance was undone though as Heathfield ran the ball 60 metres through broken field to score. Again Heathfield were energised and another forwards rumble led to a score quickly followed by a well worked backs move. With 20 minutes to go CPR found themselves 27-10 adrift, and the for the third week running the come-back began in earnest. Good phases and kicking found Cinque Ports in opposition territory, a quickly taken penalty again saw Eastwood shipping the ball quickly through hands to Smart who laid up for replacement Ben Hanny on the angle who  would not be stopped. Smart converted. Smart & Hanny again combined and were denied close to the line this time.