Mixed fortunes for clubs

Rye made it two wins out of two in Sussex One with a 19-5 victory at home to Lewes II thanks to tries from John Smith, Olly Finn and Joe Morrell, plus a couple of Matt Cooke conversions.

H&B were beaten 28-8, however, away to Beccehamian in Kent One with all the points coming during the first half. The visitors couldn’t have got off to a worse start with Beccs scoring a converted try straight from kick-off.

Within minutes H&B hit back. A fine catch by Jimmy Adams, a break by Ben Campbell and snappy passing down the backline carved open the defence for a training ground try finished by Calvin Crosby-Clark.

H&B briefly took an 8-7 lead with a Paul Sandeman penalty. Then lightning struck H&B twice: again from the restart a sloppy pass allowed a Beccs chaser to intercept and stroll under the posts, 14-8.

From the subsequent restart, a kick and chase beat sluggish defenders, and Beccs were 21-8 ahead, still in the first quarter. H&B defended a series of penalties on their line bravely, but eventually Beccs battled over again.

Full reports on both matches will appear in Friday’s Observers.

Standings (played two matches unless stated) - Kent One: 1 King’s College Hospital 10pts, 2 Southwark Lancers 6, 3 Beccehamian 6, 4 HASTINGS & BEXHILL 5, 5 Cranbrook (1) 5, 6 Sittingbourne 5, 7 Old Gravesendians 5, 8 HSBC (1) 4, 9 Dartfordians 4, 10 Shooters Hill 0, 11 Whitstable 0.

Sussex One: 1 Eastbourne 10pts, 2 Burgess Hill 10, 3 Seaford 10, 4 Chichester III 10, 5 RYE 8, 6 Holbrook 4, 7 Brighton II 3, 8 Newick 1, 9 Haywards Heath II (1) 0, 10 Hove III 0, 11 Lewes II 0, 12 Midhurst (1) 0.