Hastings & Bexhill III 43 Cinque Ports Rugby 0 (HT 22-0)

On paper the result seems no different to recent defeats to Brighton or Eastbourne, but the levels of physicality and commitment were much higher than either previous performance. A very strong and sizeable Hastings & Bexhill squad made the short journey to The Grove School due to an unplayable pitch at their home ground. Hastings & Bexhill started strongly but a fantastic line of defence held them up on the line on three separate occasions. Standing out in the forwards were Craig Barningham and Steve Crump, who both made several try saving tackles, eventually Hastings & Bexhill did breach the line but they were forced to fight for each inch of territory gained. This was characteristic of the whole game; a very physical and combative game saw both sides scrapping over loose ball caused by the atrocious conditions. Steve Crump particularly effective in snaffling ball from the floor, he worked well with captain Paul Smart who in turn used centres Carl Malthouse and Christiaan Brandt. These two made territorial advances each time they had the ball in broken play. Hastings & Bexhill  scored regularly but Cinque Ports did not crumble, the tackling was strong generally and Cinque Ports maintained their discipline in some very physical exchanges. Hastings were strong with the ball in hand and played some very attractive rugby, but Cinque Ports were also capable of dazzling with Smart, Malthouse and Brandt combining with a combination of slick passing and effective offloading. Hastings & Bexhill urge to kick the ball also led to some strong counter attack play by South African full back Gavin Sams. They failed to appreciate just how safe Gavin Sams is even having a wet ball kicked to him.

During the second half a variety of changes did not seem to effect the rhythm of either side, prop Terry Doorey whose powerful runs were a feature of the second half left the field as did the brave Craig Barningham and Christiaan Brandt with injuries. Cinque Ports kept pushing for the score but could not break the final stages of defence; Luke Price and sub Rob Fink caused problems with their quick stepping runs but could not find the final gap to score.

Despite the comprehensive defeat it was a committed performance all over the field. Coach Bill Langley said "We showed promise in attack and defence, and have a strong base to work from", manager Gavin Thomas echoed this "There was no disgrace in our performance against a strong side, we tackled, run and worked as a team for 80 minutes and ended with a smile on our face. This is exactly as the game should be played. Every CPR player should be pleased with the commitment and effort they put in today". Steve Crump was named man of the match for the second week in a row.

Team: Doorey (Langley), Wright, Crump, Butcher (Brown), Parker, Thomas, Dedman, Barningham (Bigg), Salmon, Smart, Price, Malthouse, Brandt (Fink), Watts, Sams