With the end of 2014 approaching, which marks the mid point of the season, it’s a good time to reflect on the team’s progress since their Sussex Division 1 debut away to Horsham.

v Chichester RFC 23 November

The first league game following the Horsham defeat was away to Worthing on 16 November but that match had to be abandoned following a head injury to a Worthing player. We were very pleased to learn that the injury was not as serious as first feared and the player concerned has made a full recovery. The fixture has been rescheduled for March.

Back at home against Chichester the following week, conditions were far from ideal with heavy rain and strong winds affecting play throughout. These sides had not played each other since they were minis so it was difficult to know what to expect though the visitors were known to have some pedigree having finished 3rd in the Division the previous season.

Eastbourne played into the elements and up the Martin’s Field slope in the first half and did well to reach half time without conceding points. Chichester’s large and competitive pack matched Eastbourne’s intensity at the breakdown and was able to win sufficient possession to put Eastbourne under pressure out wide. Eastbourne’s defence held firm however and special mention must be made of CJ who put in at least 5 crucial tackles during the first period.

After half time Bourne started to use the conditions well and it was Callum Carlton who broke the deadlock with a try from close range. From then on, pieces of indiscipline from Chichester led to the referee marching them back on a couple of occasions and from one of the ensuing penalties Luke James took the tapped ball to score one of his three tries of the afternoon. The match concluded with a showbiz score from Louis Wood to give a 33-0 bonus point win for the Blues and Golds.

v Pulborough RFC 30 November

A week later Eastbourne welcomed Pulborough to Martin’s Field. This proved to be a far less convincing performance by the hosts who struggled all afternoon to find any rhythm - not helped by the frequent breaks in play. Although Eastbourne recorded another bonus point win at 24-5, Pulborough proved difficult opponents and in the second half put our back three under pressure with some astute kicking into the corners.

Although the team won considerable possession they were clearly stuttering in attack and failed to convert a host of chances showing us that there was still much to work on.

v Lewes RFC 14 December

With the County U15s trial happening on 7 December this gave the rest of the squad the opportunityto get valuable match time in a friendly away to Seaford the same day. Not only were we able to get a run out for players who had been on the fringe of the league matches but we were also able to experiment with a number of positional changes. The changes proved to be mainly successful as the revamped team coped well in very windy conditions, running out 52-7 winners. Special mentions must be made of Andrey Ustimenko who enjoyed his match debut for the team and Alfi Travers who scored his first try for the Club – without the aid of flip-flops!

Between Seaford and the league game at Lewes, Jim Newton, the Club’s Youth Development Coach, joined us for training and ran a number of drills to help iron out some of the faults in our attacking alignment and passing that had been evident against Pulborough.

The League match at Lewes proved to be the best performance of the season so far with evidence that Jim’s training had stuck, for the first half at least! There was great interplay between forwards and backs and recognition that the ability to send the ball wide can sometimes depend upon building pressure through successive phases of play in the forwards. Apart from the style of play it was very gratifying that the whole squad got match time with Andrey making his league debut one week after his debut for the Club.

As we go into 2015 the team is sitting 2nd in the Sussex A league, a fantastic achievement already for a recently promoted team. There is still however much to learn and there will be some tough tests ahead for the side with the likes of Hove, Worthing and Brighton still to be played. In the meantime many thanks to all the parents, coaches and Club members who continue to support this age group and who make a huge contribution to the success on the pitch.

Lastly may I make special mention of Simon Yates and Bren Carlton who bear most of the burden of videoing the games, sometimes in appalling conditions, so that we can enjoy the matches again on YouTube. Some of the off-camera comments have been at times brilliant, funny and enlightening. Are they the successors to Statler & Waldorf?!

A Happy 2015 to you all!

Mike Chapman

Under 15s Lead Coach 2014/15