Super Saturday for Lewes!

This was not an April Fool's joke! Lewes RFC pulled off a remarkable double on Saturday with the Mens' XV outgunning Gillingham Anchorians at home by 34-12 in the League, while the Ladies' XV had the best result in their history with a magnificent 12-3 win against Reading Abbey in the National Junior Cup Final at Wootten Bassett in Wiltshire after being held to 0-0 at half-time (separate report to follow).

The Mens' match kicked off in sunny and dry conditions which suited Lewes' fast set of backs, hence their attempt to run the ball at every opportunity which resulted in a total of five great tries. Indeed, their first try came after only five minutes when a break from outside-centre Abe Bredin led to him touching down under the posts, fly-half Joe Mackie kicking over the conversion to open the scoring at 7-0. Lewes then kept Gillingham under pressure inside their own 22 metre area for long periods, leading to Lewes' second try on the quarter-hour from skipper James Halpin, Mackie adding the extras to extend the home side's advantage to 14-0.

It took only another four minutes for a rampant Lewes to go further ahead at 21-0 following a sweeping attack involving both forwards and backs, ending with Player-Coach Mike Stubbs scoring under the posts, Mackie's third conversion putting his side firmly in control.
Lewes scored their fourth, bonus-point, try two minutes later after another great attacking move, flanker Billy Shiell touching down wide out left for an unconverted try to stretch the gap to 26-0. Gillingham finally got onto the scoreboard on the half-hour when, after their first foray into Lewes' 22 metre area they were awarded a penalty, which they kicked to touch for the line-out. From this, their second-row Daz French went over for the Kent side's first try, converted by their scrum-half Patrick Holliday, to make it 26-7. The remaining 10 minutes of the half saw play evenly balanced but with no further scores added at the half-time whistle.

The second half was more competitive as a flurry of injuries to the Lewes team meant they had to use all their replacements in quick succession, upsetting their rhythm as a result and enabling Gillingham's forwards to begin to dominate possession for the first time in the match. Lewes' defence managed to hold out for some time, however, even snatching the ball from a Gillingham line-out on the five metre lane to stifle a potential try by the visitors. But the pressure finally told after 55 minutes when - after Stubbs had been yellow-carded - Gillingham took advantage of the extra man to score their second try on 64 minutes by their right-winger Kurt Robinson, but the missed conversion kept Lewes in front at 26-12.

Once Lewes had adjusted to their positional changes, they fought their way back into the last quarter of the match, reverting to their earlier flowing attacks which resulted in a penalty to them two minutes later, Mackie kicking over to pull away at 29-12.

In fact, it was Lewes who finished the match the stronger, rounding off a fine victory by scoring the last try of this entertaining game when a break from half-way by replacement centre George Tagg enabled him to off-load the ball to Bredin in support, who dived over for his second, but unconverted, try to see the large home crowd applaud a great 34-12 win for their team.

After the match, Player-Coach Mike Stubbs commented: "This was a much better performance than last week, with more fight and a more positive attitude shown by a much-changed squad. In spite of our mounting injury count, we still managed to score great tries and hope we can finish the season well next week in our last League game away to League Champions-elect, Pulborough". (k.o. 3.00pm).

Following this match, the players and supporters will be returning to Lewes for the Club's Annual Dinner/Awards Evening (further details from Club Secretary Paul Nicholl on 07754 522 694 or pdwn@outlook.com).