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Saturday 6 February 2010
Lewes sees Eastbourne go west
Lewes v Eastbourne
Score: 37 - 0
Report by Dereck Wade
Photographs: Alan Page
(Pictured right: Fly half Rocky Matatumua scores Lewes’ first try)
On a beautiful sunny day, Lewes had this game against bottom-of-the-table Eastbourne well won by half-time, when they led by 27 – 0, but then squandered the opportunity to pile on the points in the second half until a revival in the last 10 minutes.
Lewes were quickly into their stride and fly-half Rocky Matatumua spotted an opening nears the visitor`s 22 metre line to break through for the opening try under the posts. His conversion, and a penalty 10 minutes later, put the home side in control at 10 – 0. With Lewes’ pack providing plenty of possession, the back line were able to show their cutting edge. Full-back Sam Hutchinson spearheaded a counter-attack, carried on by centre Nick Sharp, and finished off with a fine try from captain Ben Hamer. With Matatumua adding the conversion, quickly followed by another penalty, Lewes pulled away at 17 – 0
(Pictured right: winger Steve Mills sprints for the line )
Just before the break, a sweeping Lewes move down the left saw play switched to wide on the right for winger Steve Mills to touch down in the corner; Matatumua slotted over the difficult conversion to see his side go in 27 – 0 up at the half-time whistle.
To their credit, Eastbourne upped their game in the second half and, with a greater share of possession as a result, exerted more pressure on the hosts than they were able to do in the first half. However, their poor passing and indiscipline often destroyed promising openings. Having kept their line intact during the Eastbourne onslaught, Lewes then re-discovered their attacking flair near the end, with further tries from left-wing Will Bell and a second for Hamer, to run out easy winners at 37 – 0.
Lewes: Andre, Mason, Williams, Brant, Gorbell, Tudor (Lundin), Arbuthnot, Blunt, Terry, Matatumua, Bell, Hamer (Capt.), Sharp, Mills (Halpin), Hutchinson
Next Saturday, Lewes are at home to third-placed Sevenoaks, k.o. 2.15pm.
Note: following County trials in early January, two Lewes players – flanker Tom Tudor and winger James Halpin – have been selected for the Sussex Under 20 squad.
Juniors
7 February 2010
Lewes’ knockout performance
Crawley U 17’s v Lewes U17
Score: 5 – 17
Report by Aidan Byrne
Photos by Mandy Dean
Lewes U17s got back to their winning ways beating Crawley in the final of the County U17s Knockout Cup. Because of the recent poor weather conditions the fixture was rearranged and held in Crawley RFC, it was originally scheduled to play before Christmas at Hove RFC. Having the better playing record this season, and having comfortably beaten Crawley last season, Lewes could have expected to be favourites. Unfortunately, nobody told the Crawley team. They were quicker to the breakdown, tackled like demons and kept in contention right up to the last few minutes when the final Lewes score made the gap too big.
Crawley took advantage of playing with a slope and were quickly into the Lewes 22. Penetrating runs and aggressive rucking meant that Crawley kept both a territorial and possession advantage. Having missed a kickable penalty it looked like all of the effort was to come to nothing. Unfortunately Lewes had a player binned for continual handling in the ruck. The Crawley No. 8 took advantage of the numerical advantage when they attacked on the blind side from the back of a scrum and scored to the right of the posts.
This seemed to wake up Lewes who started to play with more effort and endeavour. The arrival of George Dean who came on for Ishida Ryohei did add some slight extra weight to the pack. This forced the Crawley forwards to stay committed to the tack and rucks creating more space for the backs to run into. Just before half time Raff Gunn, who had an excellent game at scrum half, squeezed over for a try close the left hand touch line. Josh Hillman took the conversation – a kick Johnny Wilkinson would have been proud of.
At half time Lewes brought on Danny Hemsley and Lewis Harte. Lewes continued to run with the ball and but excellent Crawley defense kept them out. Many telling attacks from Peate, Savage Tyrer and Harte all failed to cross the try line. Then Ollie Sables started a great move from the Lewes 22 when he somehow managed to find a hole in the otherwise tight Crawley defense. The ball flowed through different pairs of Lewes hands and the Lewes backs started to play with confidence. Gunn scored a second try and with only seven points between the sides Crawley were still in the game. Five minutes before the end Harte finished off a great move and scored when the defense bought his outrageous dummy to the Lewes captain Tom Pellett.
Lewes are now into the National Cup and there will be yet again another southern England county winner on the 28 February – your support would be very, very welcome.
Scorers for Lewes: Raff Gunn (2 tries), Lewis Harte (1 try), Josh Hillman (1 conversion)
Lewes Squad: George Dean, Lockie Diplock, Tom Pellett (Captain), Aaron White, Danny Hemsley, Josh Hillman, Joshua Sheppard, Lewis Harte, Christian Vaneze, Dom Burns, Raff Gunn, Austin Weight, Ollie Callaghan, Ollie Stables, Ishida Ryohei, Tom Hocking, Charlie Savage, Sam Peate, Theo Tyrer, Ryan Byrne
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