Men’s 1st XV v Hastings & Bexhill 27/10/2007

Home – London 4 South East

Report by Andy Ward

Won 27-15

A game that struggled to really get going also failed to excite and enthuse the spectators. From the off, H&B were camped in Hove’s 22 and threatened several times but without seeming to have that killer pass or kick through. Against the run of play, Adam Phillips made one of his customary breaks from inside his half and bobbed, weaved and seemingly broke the laws of physics to get through gaps that most of us had not even seen. The result was a try just to the side of the left upright and an opportunity for Alex Robertson to take a kick. 7-0 to Hove.

Hove now seemed to wake up a bit- but not for long – and it seemed that memories of the recent 69-0 spanking that Hove gave their visitors was firmly in the player’s minds in the we only need to turn up to win attitude that seemed to be prevalent. Within 5 minutes H&B had fought back and equalised with a well worked try and the accompanying conversion. Bewildered looks on the Hove faces was evidence to the fact that this was not in the script that most Hove players had dreamed of the night before.

Half time was looming and possibly the thought of a slice of orange was more to the fore than ensuring defensive duties prevailed and Hove gave away a penalty to go down 10-7 as the referee blew the whistle.

The second half continued in much the same way – lots of build up, some reasonably good play, but no finished product. Until the 50th minute when a good Hove maul crept onerously towards the line allowing prop Brian Spring to touch the ball down to take Hove back in the lead at 12-7. After a further 10 minutes, a similar move saw No. 8 Glen Rankin score a try.

These two tries jolted Hove into a bit more positive a frame – particularly Adam Phillips, who breezed in two excellent tries in the 62nd and 70th minutes to take the score to 27-10, but Hastings managed to pull back a late try in the 75th minute to make the final score 27-15 to Hove.

Not a classic game by any account, but as long as you can keep on winning even if you’re not playing as well as you can is always good. Hove are now a clear second in the table after Bognor and should be approaching next week’s game at Crowborough in a positive manner.

Possibly, too, the spectators have been served some classic scores over the last three or four games and their expectations are set too high. A win is a win and this is Adam’s third hat trick of tries in the last few games.

So, maybe people like your author should have a bit of a reality check!