Cinque Ports Rugby 0 Brighton  III 39 (HT 0-24)

The end of 2008 saw Cinque Ports facing an Uckfield side riding high in Sussex Division 3, never one to avoid a challenge Cinque Ports began 2009 facing a Brighton side riding high in Sussex Division 2. What was already a tough fixture was made considerably tougher when 58 seconds into the game Cinque Ports still appeared to be in the giving Christmas spirit as they watched the Brighton winger run in a try. Throughout the game Cinque Ports appeared to be lacking the sharpness and aggression that characterised them in November and December. When Brighton had the ball in the loose they were very dangerous and used their wingers to stretch the Cinque Ports defence. There were opportunities for CPR, both Paul Smart and Carl Malthouse missing difficult penalties. Malthouse also thought he had scored his first try for the club before a fantastic saving tackle by the Brighton centre. Towering winger Tony Potter also came close after a dancing run before being bundled into touch. A difficult game also became much harder when captain Paul Smart limped off with a hamstring injury, prop Mick Berry with a rib injury and late in the game they lost influential centre Colin Whyte with a broken hand. The CPR pack was also particularly impressive in the first half winning scrums against the head and winning both sides line out. Injuries told in the second half though, the Brighton scrum begun to dominate and the line out begun to misfire this aided Brighton's efforts who ran in a number of tries. Despite this Cinque Ports did show elements of the quality that have taken them to fifth in Division Sussex three east. An aggressive performance from power forward Gary Swift, another great sniping game around the fringes by Dale Whittington and an encouraging show at scrum half from Chris Eastwood. Coach Bill Langley said "There were things that were obviously wrong, but things that were good too". Gary Swift was named man of the match.
CPR face Eastbourne III away next Saturday in a crunch league game. Eastbourne are second in the league currently.
 
Team: Berry(Doorey),Wright, Swift, Butcher(Thomas), Maplesden, Dedman, Whittington, Barningham, Eastwood, Smart(Whyte), Salmon, L  Price, Fink(Watts),
Malthouse