Lewes RFC

Lewes welcomed East Grinstead to the Stanley Turner on a sunny Spring afternoon, with the hint of Spring in the air, and certainly performed better than they did on a cold November day at Sainte Hill when they had lost 43-14. However, Lewes were depleted by injuries to two forwards - with only having one replacement forward on the bench – in the first half as well as four yellow cards in the second half.

In fact, Lewes received five yellow cards in all, which meant that at times they were playing with just thirteen players on the pitch. It did betray a lack of experience in the squad, but Lewes do have a lot of very promising young players who have been developing tremendously well as the season progresses

The game started with East Grinstead endeavouring to impose themselves on Lewes with a strong attack. Lewes countered well, but eventually East Grinstead were able to open the scoring with a try. Straight from the kick off, though, the combination that had seen off Shoreham in the previous match came together as Smith put Green through to run half the length of the pitch to score under the posts. Smith’s conversion took the score to 7-5 in Lewes’ favour.

At that point, things looked good for Lewes, but the first of a series of misfortunes now saw hooker Ben Simmonds having to leave the pitch with the recurrence of an old elbow injury. This weakened the pack, as well as affecting the line out throws, and East Grinstead took advantage by scoring a goal to take the lead at 7-12.

A further mishap soon followed when East Grinstead’s quick tap penalty took Lewes by surprise and a tackling effort by Harry Rees unfortunately earned him a yellow card. With the Lewes pack further depleted, East Grinstead had a significant edge and forced a pushover try that increased their lead to 7-19.

There was another East Grinstead surge for a pushover try that Lewes defended well. But it led to an injury to Jack Bradford that forced him to leave the field too. With Harry Taylor having to scrum in the second row, moving up from number eight, this did not break up the Lewes back row club of “Three Harrys” as Harry Carr moved from the wing to join Weston and Rees.

Despite the set-backs Lewes never let their spirits drop, and just before half time, they won a penalty which gave Smith a chance to narrow East Grinstead’s lead.  So, at half time, the score stood at 10-19. When the second half started, East Grinstead went on the attack, but Lewes, once again, put in a strong defensive shift. East Grinstead were awarded a penalty and scored a goal from the same position as Lewes, but Thomas Moore was given a yellow card.

Fortunately, Lewes had utility back, Matthew Henshaw on the bench so he was able to slot in at scrum half. But Jack Soltermann was the next to receive a yellow card and East Grinstead were able to get another try against the thirteen men that took the score to 10-27. When Moore returned, Henshaw then was able to fill in at full back, but Harry Weston became the fourth Lewes player to get a yellow card, and East Grinsted then mauled over the Lewes line to score a goal that made it 10-34.

At this point, Lewes had certainly not given up and forced their way into their opponent’s half, Unfortunately, they were held up over the line, but the resultant East Grinstead goal line drop out went straight into touch. So Lewes’ attack continued and Raff Green went over for his second try.

Things weren’t going all Lewes’ way, though, as Tom Roy, who had taken Harry Carr’s place on the wing, was given a yellow card and then the visitors scored a try from an intercepted pass. Then it was East Grinstead’s turn to receive a yellow, which gave Lewes the chance to have the final say in the game, as they inflicted more pressure on East Grinstead and Fearghus Gage scored a try that Jordy Smith converted with the last kick of the game.

The 22-39 scoreline leaves Lewes in sixth place in the table. Next weekend the clubhouse will be open for the England game, and the following Saturday (28^th February) the team travel to Eastbourne for their next league game at 2,00. On Saturday 7^th March, Ditchling will be the visitors to the STG, when we will be holding a pre-match lunch for former players.

Lewes team: Soltermann; Carr, Green (captain), Goode, George-Coker; Smith, Moore; Dadswell, Simmonds, Gage; Bradford, Brooker; Rees, Weston, Taylor. Replacements: Thomas, Roy, Henshaw.