The performance Hellingly put in was great and were unlucky not to have won!

 

The weather was overcast and dry with no wind, and due to strip colour clash, Hellingly played white which made shirt number spotting impossible for the spectators.

 

1st Half

 

This was always going to be a hard hitting game and it didn’t disappoint. Tackling was solid, breaks were fast and scrum pressure great. It was 12 minutes in when the visitors chalked up a converted try (0-7). The referee was letting little go past his eye and resulted with him having a word with both captains. Hellingly secured their first try by Tom Stone in the 22nd minute but were unable to convert (5-7). A succession of good phases of play from both camps made for an exciting match to watch and the effort being put in was relentless. Eastbourne found the try line and conversion in the 34th minute bringing the score to 5-14 and again in the 40th minute bring the half time score to 5-21. After 43 minutes on the stopwatch, there had been 9 scrums with 2 resets, 13 lineouts, advantage give for 7 and advantage against 13.

 

2nd Half

 

The second half was a real cracker with a few fireworks by way of a bit of afters, 1 yellow card for Eastbourne and 2 for Hellingly. From the first yellow against Hellingly, the visitors secured a penalty kick (5-24) and a yellow against Eastbourne in the 14th minute saw Hellingly take advantage of a player down to a 16th minute try from Scott Monk converted by Aaron Hassock (12-24). Advantage being given for and against in almost equal measure, Hellingly suffered another blow receiving a yellow card and 5 minutes later Eastbourne again being awarded a penalty kick bring to the score to 12-27. 8 minutes later and still with a man in the bin, Hellingly kept Eastbourne well off their line and went on to score a try by Lewes Ather converted by Aaron Hassock bringing the final score to 19-27. The 2nd half saw 8 scrums, 13 lineouts, advantage given for 9 and advantage against 10. The performance Hellingly put in was great and were unlucky not to have won.

 

Next Home Game: 29th January 1XV V Lewes 2pm Kick-off