In a hugely entertaining game between two good sides, Lewes shrugged off last week's disappointments in losing to bottom-placed Ashford by convincingly beating formerly unbeaten League leaders Thanet with a six tries to four victory after a scintillating first-half display which had the home crowd on their feet. After a good start from Lewes, Thanet's defence held out against the initial attacks on their line and, in their first move downfield, earned a penalty on the 22 metre line, slotted over by their outside-half, to open the scoring 0-3. The next ten minutes saw solid Lewes pressure inside Thanet's own half, resulting in a penalty to the home side, kicked over by full-back Abe Bredin to draw level at 3-3.
Lewes then began to take control, their pack performing well in the set pieces and loose, enabling their fleet-footed backs to come more into the game. This paid off on the half-hour, outside centre Will Tobin making a great break through the defence to score the opening try of the match out left, Bredin adding the extras to see his side go ahead at 10-3. But Thanet hit back moments later when they followed up a rare fumbled ball by Lewes to send their outside-centre clear for a run to the line for an unconverted try, to narrow the deficit to 10-8.

Lewes responded by dominating the remainder of the half, scoring further tries from second-row Nat Lowen, replacement winger Tom Petty and second-row Matt Blunt, Bredin kicking over two fine conversions. Although Thanet responded with a second, unconverted try from their influential outside-centre, Lewes went into the half-time break with a deserved 29-13 lead, including an early bonus point.

Five minutes into the second half, Thanet's No 3 was yellow-carded for obstruction and the extra man advantage enabled Lewes to pull further ahead at 34-13 with a quickly-taken tap penalty from scrum-half Gus Taylor, who then sped the ball out left to Petty for his second, but unconverted, try.

The remainder of second half was more even as Lewes - again hit by several injuries - had to adjust to team changes, which allowed Thanet's pack to be brought more into the game. After 54 minutes, they reduced the arrears to 34-20 with a push-over try from their open-side flanker, converted by No 10.

Although Lewes' own flanker Tom Hatch was then yellow-carded for offside, the 14-man hosts managed to hold out until his return with disciplined defence, and even went further ahead 39-20 with a stunning team try finished off by Tobin - his second - the conversion just going wide. Although Thanet gained a losing bonus point of their own just before the end, with their fourth try from their hooker, converted by their No 10, this did not detract from what was undoubtedly Lewes' finest game of the season so far - a complete contrast to their somewhat lack-lustre performance the previous week - and which sees them move up to fifth place in the table.

Player-Coach Mike Stubbs commented after the match: "The boys' attitude was outstanding today. Our defence was relentless. Hopefully, we can push on from this win and find some consistency".

Lewes: Casey, Hill, Rayner, Lowen, Blunt, Hatch, Furse, Stubbs, Taylor, Shiell, Feltham, Halpin (Capt.), Tobin, Dewar, Bredin. (Reps. all used - Moule, Gorbell, Petty).

Lewes 1sts have a rest day on Saturday, returning to League duties on 22 October with the long trip to Folkestone.

Lewes 2nds had their best game of the season so far, going down by only 27-21 at local rivals, Seaford. Lewes's tries were scored by George Tagg, Ollie Horscroft and Charlie Hobden (who also kicked all 3 conversions). The narrowness of the result meant that Lewes came home with a valuable losing bonus point.