Hastings and Bexhill 80 Lewes 0

Hastings had the pleasure of entertaining Lewes at their William Parker pitch this weekend.  The home team are still looking very good at the top of the Sussex 2 league table unlike the opposition who are languishing towards the bottom.  On current form it was going to be one way traffic for most of the afternoon. 

H and B were again able to pick from almost every player. Only injuries to Sussex under 20s player Aidy Mahoney, Prop Matt O'Connor and second row Andy Sanders kept them out.  However they were able to welcome back vice-captain and pack leader Pete Mahoney to the number 8 shirt, Illian Granville to the front row and give new player Rod Luff and run in the second row with Jason Holewell.

With one eye on the approaching table top encounter with second place Crowborough and the Vase final on the 14th March, both coach and captain are still trying new combinations throughout the team.

The early morning frost gave way to a beautiful afternoon for rugby and the home players arrived calm, confident and ready for a game.  The visitors however turned up late, unorganised and without a recognised front row, thus gifting the home side a 10 point head start.

"We were looking for a good performance on the first part and the chance to set another marker down to the other teams in the league" said Skipper Kemp-Milham.

The game was one sided from the start with Hastings going forward from almost every play and crossing the gain line seemingly at will, something that been spoken about in the warm up session.  The forwards were confident to carry the ball in the open knowing that support was not far behind.

Matt Harbord, playing at scrum half, was able to control the tempo of the game, bossing the forwards and releasing the backs to create time and space to attack the Lewes line.

The tries soon came thick and fast with ex-Lewes player Ben Hanny completing a first half hat-trick. It did look as if he wanted every ball in every position to prove a point.  Every try he received "praise" from his former team mates, not that that seemed to bother him.

In the second half the game lost some of its shape as the Lewes players became tried.  One of the points that the home team have been working on is keeping their discipline which was good, although it dropped off towards the end.

The referee called time early for the second week running with the home team well into the 40 points difference which the league allows.

"My aim for the past two games was 8 points and 80+ points difference out of the Hove and Lewes games, we acheived that well" said Kemp-Milham "however the boys know that for the next couple of games we will need to step up a gear and get back to our best"

Matt Harbord was again man of the match. 

All the scorers were Hanny (4), Kemp-Milham (2), Harbord, Sewell, Holewell, Petty, Whittington and playing his last game for a while Ryan Magidan.  Kemp-Milham was ordinary with the boot only converting 5 tries.

Team Granville, Hopkins, Dawes, Luff, Holewell, Edmunds, Magidan, P.Mahoney, Harbord, Kemp-Milham, Hanny, Knight, Woolcott, Petty, Whittingdon, Smith, Sewell, Macmanus.

The seconds are without a game this weekend and then return against Crowborough on the 6th March.