News & match reports

27 February - 1st XV match report
1st March 2010

A last-gasp, single-point victory for Lewes

Lewes 1st XV senior men vs Old Reigatians
Score: 22 - 21
Report by Dereck Wade
Photographs by Nigel Martin and (see Flickr) Alan Page

A virtual repeat of the away match at the beginning of the season, this result strengthens the Sussex Club's position at fifth in the league, with a game in hand.

Reigatians kicked off and the opening session saw little between the sides. But after only 3 minutes, Lewes won the ball just inside their own half, from where it was passed out left for full-Back Sam Hutchinson to kick ahead down the line, and then pick up the ball to score in the left -hand corner. The difficult conversion was missed, but at least the home side had already improved upon last week's performance by getting points on the board at 5 - 0.

Two minutes later Reigatians had the chance to open their account with a penalty from 27 metres out, but the kick was missed. They made amends some 7 minutes later, when their centre made a break from the half-way line, and then chipped the ball ahead for flanker Drew Bogdanovs to score an easy try under the posts. The conversion by outside-half Dave Kelly saw the visitors take the lead at 5 - 7.

On 25 minutes, a minor altercation between Lewes' skipper, Ben Hamer and Reigatians' No. 8, Mark Chesterton, saw both players sin-binned for 10 minutes. The reduction in numbers benefited the Sussex side more then their visitors from Surrey, as was apparent only a few minutes later. Following a good spell of rugby which put much pressure on their opponents, they were awarded a penalty inside the 22 metre zone which outside-half Rocky Matatumua coolly slotted over to re-gain the advantage at 8 - 7. Lewes continued to restrict Reigatians to within their half up to the half-time whistle.

In the second half, Reigatians secured more possession and as a result were able to make more forays into Lewes' defensive area. It took them only 5 minutes for this pressure to pay off, winning good ruck ball and feeding the ball to centre Nick Sauni, who crashed through three tackling attempts before diving over near the posts. Kelly's conversion restored his side's lead at 8 - 14. But Lewes responded with a good series of rucks and mauls which saw them move close to the try line, and only an unlucky knock-on prevented them from scoring.

Lewes were now getting their act together, with forwards and backs linking well, and on 52 minutes, they were rewarded with a try following a great forward drive which ended with Hamer diving over under the posts, the Matatumua conversion making it 15 - 14.However, Reigatians hit back only 3 minutes later when an attempted kick for touch inside Lewes' 22 metre area saw the ball charged down by Kelly for another try, which he also converted, to snatch back the led at 15 - 21. At this point, the mass of Lewes supporters thought that the game had been given away, but to the players' credit, they stuck to the game-plan and a further spell of pressure resulted in Reigatians scrum-half, Alex Forsyth, being sin-binned. From the next line-out, the forwards worked the ball out left for centre Will Bell to come storming into the line to touch down under the posts after 75 minutes, Matatumua's conversion seeing Lewes claw back the lead at 22 - 21.

In a mirror-copy of the fist match against Reigatians, the latter were given the opportunity to snatch victory at the last, this time via a penalty 3 minutes from time from 30 metres out, but fortunately for Lewes, Kelly fluffed the kick, and the match ended when winger James Halpin hoisted the ball into touch in the next move. A good win for Lewes, seeing them achieve the double over their near rivals, and putting some space between the top 5 in the League and the rest.

Lewes: Lundin (Delaney, 50 mins.), Denslow, Mason, Gorbell, Brant, Hamer (Capt.), Tudor (Blunt, 68 mins.), Ridley, Terry, Matatumua, Mills, Sharp, Bell, Halpin, Hutchinson (Sub. not used: Read).

On Saturday, Lewes have another home fixture, against Old Dunstonians, k.o. 3.00pm).

Many thanks to supporter Nigel Martin for the excellent action shots! More pictures of this and other games and teams can be found in our Lewes RFC Flickr gallery >>