LEWES CONTINUE WINNING WAYS

Lewes celebrated the Rugby World Cup with fun, sun and success on Saturday. The 1st's beat Crawley 54-0 in the League, marking their second bonus point performance out of two, the Ladies overcame St Francis 22-7 in a friendly and the 2nd's beat Heathfield away 28-34 despite giving away a 10-point handicap for not being able to field a front row.

Before the 1xt VX's kick-off, and as part of the Club's Rugby World Cup Day, 15 teams entered a highly entertaining 7-a-side touch tournament, and Harlequins ran a free coaching clinic with around 40 children and their adults. The home games were served by the actual Rugby World Cup ball-boys team! The day finished off in the clubhouse with real ale and the big screen to watch the Rugby World Cup games.

In the 1st's match versus Crawley, the important score was "0" points given away as the Lewes side progressed from last week’s outing: more control, more structure and more aggressive at the breakdown. Winning a league is all about developing a squad and that is the goal over the first few weeks. Yesterday’s side contained 6 additions to last week’s squad and there are more players returning from injury and unavailability over the next couple of weeks.

Three tries before half time from Tobin, Naylor and Sharp set the game up as Lewes dominated the breakdown, but unlike last week, the consistent boot of University player Rumpson kept the scoreboard ticking over.

The highlight of the game and the commitment shown by the team was emphasized by the fifth of the seven tries. Defending their try line, the Lewes forwards thwarted 4 or 5 phases and then as the attacking Crawley players fragmented, Alfie Hill completed a superb turnover. The ball was then spread through the backs in the Lewes 22’ and after the attack was straightened and kicked forward a simple 2 on 1 was executed by a perfect pass from new winger Brown and the eventual try scorer Rumpson.

Lewes started to dominate the last 20 minutes with fitness being a key element. This was a great improvement on last week and hopefully the progress will continue over the next couple of weeks. The squad mentality was emphasized by the 2nd team winning away at Heathfield by 38-25 even though they had to give the opposition 10 points for lack of front row players.

Scorers: Tries: Naylor, Tobin, Sharp, Dean, Rumpson (2), Petty
Cons: Rumpson (5)
Penalities: Rumpson (3)

Final score: 54-0 and an extra bonus point, which places Lewes in fourth spot, only 1 point behind the early leaders, but with a game in hand.

On Saturday, Lewes 1st's visit Chichester while the 2nd's host Newick, both k.o's at 2.00pm