Lewes Colts 32-Crowborough Colts 58 (tries: Merlin Evans-Freke, Jamie Austen, Dexter Vigar, Dan Billin, Samuel Crichton and Louis Barron; conversion: Louis Barron)

The smiles on the faces of the Colts after the game show it was worth running yesterday's match in a compromise 10-a-side format. Even though Ben Gedrych and Harvey Joy had played adult rugby on Saturday, they still turned out for Lewes Colts.

The game was played as four quarters of 10 minutes. Lewes were caught napping in the first quarter and Crowborough went ahead 0-19. Lewes then tightened up their act and the second period was a 5-5 draw with winger Merlin Evans-Freke showing his fitness by racing down the right wing despite managing a number of epic defensive chase-downs.

Things began to open up as tiredness came on in the third quarter. Crowborough had brought a squad of 18 so were able to rotate their players with fresh legs whereas Lewes only had one on the bench, Joy had a finger injury and Tom Rourke hurt his leg. But second-row Jamie Austen thundered through to the line and backrow Dex Vigar chased down an excellent restart kick from Dan Billin. However Crowborough scored three to win the quarter 10-17.

The home side went for it in the final quarter with fly-half Billin pouncing on a loose ball and playing football by dribbling it to the line with Louis Barron converting it with a drop-goal. Forward Sam Crichton then used his size to blast through to the line via a very direct route and winger Barron showed his pace by running two-thirds of the pitch tracked by two tacklers who could not reach him thus ending the quarter 17-17.

There were a few missed opportunities and spillages but in general, this was a very positive performance from a squad under stress of lack of numbers.

Squad: Mitchell Perks, Tom Rourke, Ben Gedrych, Toby Greenwood, Harvey Joy, Merlin Evans-Freke, Jamie Austen, Dexter Vigar, Dan Billin, Samuel Crichton, Louis Barron