Shoreham go 11/11

Due to injuries, Shoreham were forced into 6 changes from the starting team that beat Ditchling. This didn't stop Shoreham from continuing their winning ways against heathfield, meaning that Shoreham have now beaten every team in the league once. John Lewis and Simon Buckman both made their first starts for the 1XV since joining the club while Gav Cox captained the side, and Nick Gray made a welcome return to the second row adding valuable experience.

Shoreham started the better of the two, pinning heathfield in their own half. However Shoreham couldn't convert the early pressure into points as their driving maul was twice stopped just short of the line. Against the run of play Heathfield backs showed great hands with several offloads out of the tackle to score in he corner. Conversion missed 5-0 to the hosts. The rest of the first half was a battle for territory with several kicks out of hand. Heathfield gave away a penalty within kicking range and Shoreham got on the board via the boot of Adam Shaw, 5-3 at half time.

As the second half wore on Shoreham made the decision to keep the ball in hand a bit more, a decision that meant they would take control of the game. Shoreham went to work through the phases but Heathfield's defence was as strong as Shoreham had faced all season. Shoreham again tried to get the rolling maul working, and gained 20 metres before Heathfield were forced to pull it down. Shoreham kicked to the corner and went for the maul again, which was pulled down again, resulting in a yellow card for the home team. Despite being down to 14, Heathfield still stayed strong in defence keeping Shoreham 5 metres out. Shoreham spent most of the half deep inside Heathfield territory and eventually won a penalty within Shaw's kicking range. He slotted a high pressure kick to give Shoreham a 5-6 lead with 6 minutes left. For the last 6 minutes of the game, Shoreham's defence was tested but some last ditch tackles from Nick Hobden and Lance Tufft in particular helped Shoreham hang on for a very hard fought away league win.

11 out of 11 in the league, along with a first cup win its safe to say 2015 has been a pretty special year for the club.

Shoreham: Pierce, Tufft, M.Shaw, Gray, Hobden, Cannell, Lewis, Cox (c), Reed, A.Shaw, Evans, Buckman, Eyre-Walker, Dakin, Griffiths.
Subs (all used) Davies, O'Connor.

Man of the match: Nick Gray - provided a solid base at the line out and got through a lot of dog work at the breakdown

Notable performances: Adam Shaw, Nick Hobden, Mick Shaw, Simon Buckman.