VICTORY AT LAST FOR DETERMINED LEWES

In a stunning display of controlled rugby, Lewes won their first League match of the season against high-flying Kent side Vigo, who were previously unbeaten and had never played against Lewes before. In spite of being reduced on two occasions to 14 men due to yellow-card offences, Lewes's combination of strong defence and ambitious attacking flair saw them pick up the winning points to move further up the League table.
In wet and slippery conditions, it was the hosts who opened the scoring after only 5 minutes with a great attack upfield, rounded-off by by scrum-half Sam Hewitt in the left corner for an unconverted try to put the first points on the board at 5 - 0. Lewes continued the offensive and on 20 minutes were awarded a penalty after a Vigo offence which eventually saw the ball fed to outside-half Joe Terry who calmly slotted over a drop-goal to increase Lewes's lead to 8 - 0. On 25 minutes, Lewes's flanker and Captain, Sam Furse, was sent to the sin-bin for offside but, in spite of being reduced to 14 men for 10 minutes, the home side held out via disciplined and aggressive defence until he returned to the field of play. No further scores were added at the half-time whistle.
The first 25 minutes of the second half saw both sides equally-balanced, with Vigo's pack of forwards proving effective, but Lewes's defence managing to nullify any resultant backs moves. Indeed - unlike their opening games - Lewes's forwards were winning more turnover ball in the rucks and mauls than their opponents, enabling them to bring their speedy backs into play on more occasions than earlier in the match.
This paid off a few minutes later when a great attacking move involving both forwards and backs - which had the large crowd of supporters on its feet - saw centre Seb Roberts score a well-worked, but unconverted, try out left to increase the lead to 13 - 0. But eleven minutes from time, Vigo surged forward after Lewes's replacement forward, Dexter Vigar - who had only been on the pitch for 3 minutes - was sin-binned, enabling their hooker Henry Wilkins to plunge over for a forwards' try, converted by full back James Chance, to narrow the gap to 13 - 7. Lewes nevertheless held out for a deserved home win, Vigo travelling home with a consolation losing bonus-point.
This was an impressive display by Lewes, who showed great character, sprit and organisation which should put them in good stead when they travel to play Sussex rivals Hastings and Bexhill on Saturday, k.o. 3.00pm at William Parker Lower School.
Lewes: Gardener, Moule, Becker, Millis-Ward, Evans, Furse (Capt.), Robinson, Hatch, Hewitt, Terry, Roberts, Shiell, Feltham, Bredin, Wade. (Reps. all used - Bacha, Taylor, Vigar).
In a packed Clubhouse afterwards, Lewes's players voted free-running centre Henry Shiell their "Man of the Match", while Vigo voted for their hooker, Henry Wilkins.

Before the match, Lewes held a Luncheon which was attended by several of the Club's sponsors, as well as other guests and Vice-Presidents.

Lewes 2nd's had an impressive home League win by 38 -12 against St. Leonards Cinque Ports, their scorers being:
James Durrant - try and conversion
Owen Jones - try
Harry Pryer - try
Tom Petty - try
Josh Farr - try
Kai Man - try
Dan Billin - 3 conversions