Home wins for H&B and Rye

Hastings & Bexhill Rugby Club was made to work for a 35-18 win at home to bottom-of-the-table Whitstable on Saturday.

The Kent One game started badly for H&B when Whitstable caught the kick-off and moved it smartly wide to their left wing, who skinned the home side’s disbelieving cover to touch down for a 0-5 lead.

H&B responded with a penalty kicked by Paul Sandeman a couple of minutes later, before he gave them a narrow lead with another after 12 minutes.

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After Whitstable retook the lead, some great lineout work by Ben Davies, Jimmy Adams and Piers Claughton ended with Mark Piotrowski diving over the tryline.

The try was disallowed, and following another illegal effort, a quick tap penalty from Sandeman finally saw the ball touched down for 16-11 half time lead.

With 30 minutes remaining, Whitstable struck again through more pacey wing play, ending with their man running under the posts.

H&B’s response had to be clinical, and it was, when Kit Claughton dived through the defence after a scrum was won deep in Whitstable territory.

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After another disallowed attempt, Piotrowski scored grabbed his second try of the game, before Adams set up Alex Waring to dive over the line.

Rye Rugby Club, meanwhile, produced their best attacking display of the season on Saturday, with a 37-20 win over Hove III in Sussex One.

Gary Edmunds produced a brilliant display, scoring four of his side’s six tries. Henry Short scored the other two tries for Rye, who are now in third spot, and are eyeing their best ever finish in Sussex One.

“It was a excellent 15 man display,” Edmunds insisted. “We produce some really impressive stuff going forward, and it’s nice to finally get a bonus point on the board again.” See Friday’s Observers for full reports.