H&B adapt to difficult conditions

A gale force wind which sent tiles flying off of a nearby building allied to Seaford's promising recent form and home advantage provided all the ingredients for an upset.

But H&B exerted their superiority on the contest throughout the final hour to secure the two points from a match that had banana skin written all over it.

Highly-contented manager Rob Hamilton said: "It was very convincing. There was a gale force wind blowing down the pitch and it was very difficult to stand up at times. Conditions were tailor-made for them and it was a leveller. But we totally dominated the second half and they didn't even get into our 22 until the final 10 minutes - our forwards dominated possession so much. It was very impressive."

In such atrocious conditions, a driving game was always likely to be more effective than spinning the ball out to the back division - a tactic H&B have refreshingly utilised far more frequently of late in more conducive weather conditions. But it wasn't just a forward grind as the visitors kept their opponents guessing by periodically spinning the ball out to the backs who scored three of their four tries.

The handling, at times a slight failing of H&B, was pretty sound under the circumstances too with comparatively little ball being grounded.

It unsurprisingly took them a while to find their rhythm but a pair of scores and a penalty took them into a healthy 15-0 interval lead having been forced to play down wind during the opening 40 minutes.

Tom Brampton crossed for the opener having received a long, raking pass from scrum-half Paul Sandeman who had taken a quick tap penalty. Sandeman then added a penalty - a notable feat in such strong winds - before converting a well-worked try touched down by full-back Jimmy Adams shortly before the interval.

Playing into what Hamilton described as "at least a 15-point wind" after the break, H&B really turned the screw. The trojan-like performance of the forwards, led by Morgan & Lamplugh man of the match Ilian Granville, removed any hopes Seaford, H&B's Sussex Shield final opponents next month, had of turning the tide.

The ever-influential Paul Flood believed he had touched the ball down over the line although the referee didn't award the five points as he was unable to see the grounding. Flood did get his name on the scoresheet soon afterwards though.

The only slightly disappointing note for the away side was that a well-kicked Seaford penalty ended their run of five consecutive shut-outs against Sussex League opposition.

But they quickly put this minor hiccup behind them and rounded off the scoring and an extremely satisfying afternoon's work when the impressive Ben Campbell kicked ahead for Kit Claughton to stab forward and touch down.

H&B visit Norfolk Arms in the league on Saturday February 7.