Cinque Ports 13 - 24 Eastbourne III (HT 3-7)
Eastbourne III were one of the very first opposition faced by CPR, but nowadays this is a very different squad. Eastbourne's Third XV are now a development team, and as a result a very youthful team arrived at the St Leonards Academy to face the hosts. Eastbourne showed the energy of such a young team in the opening exchanges too, maintaining possession and looking to run the ball directly and with some purpose. The CPR defence was strong though, Dale Whittington was an awkward presence and Vince Page delivered some punishing hits at centre. The game seemed to settle into a period of barely organised chaos, Eastbourne seemed to be in control of the line-outs during this period but a plethora of knock on offences led to scrums which CPR dominated with the voluble presence of Kim Wan a major figure in this set-piece dominance. Cinque Ports did break away from their half, but good Eastbourne defence held them out. Not wanting to go away empty handed Paul Smart took advantage of the wind to slot home an ambitious drop goal. The home team seemed to have their tails up now, Murray Whittington, Ross Kearney and Luke Price all made great breaks and Chris Eastwood's inspired blind side sneak was let down by a poor pass- despite this the Eastbourne line was still unbroken. Indiscipline and some contentious penalties conspired though to pen CPR back in their own half, and with one try disallowed for the visitors it seemed inevitable that a try would come and it did from a very protracted period of mauling. With the half coming to an end Cinque Ports upped the intensity. From a messy line out Kearney made a mazy run, before the forwards joined in to create eight strong phases of play. A knock on brought the attack to an end, but a scrum won against the head gave Eastwood another chance to break but the pass didn't find Martyn Chambers on the wing.
Another Kearney counter attack was brought to a sudden end when he was pulled back chasing his own clever kick. The Second half started with the visitors again starting brightly, and a quick try put them out to a 14-3 lead. As has become a feature of Cinque Ports play this season a brave fight back began. Dale Whittington ripped the ball from a steadily advancing maul, he found Price who had been a bombastic runner all afternoon. On this occasion the abrasive centre straightened up and bumped off a number of tackles before releasing Kearney. The vice-skipper ran the ball in from fifty metres. Smart was unsuccessful with the conversion. Cinque Ports were now within striking distance of the visitors, but they placed themselves under pressure with a burst of penalties. One of which was slotted by Eastbourne. CPR were keeping the game simple at this point, a period of pick and go rugby with Dale Whittington, Dean Dedman, Nick Giles and Craig Barningham all grinding out the territory before Murray Whittington playing as first receiver bumped off a few tackles and released Price who again caused havoc before giving the younger Whittington brother the ball to finish the move he had started. Smart was again unlucky with the conversion. With the gap four points and minutes left Cinque Ports became more adventurous, Kearney was a willing runner. As were both Whittington brothers. Paul Smart also came into his own, a jinking devilish presence. Smart saw the ball knocked out of his hands in the tackle, playing on Eastbourne gained 30 metres. Good ruck work regained possession, and Murray again burst towards the opposition 22. With the seconds ticking away his off-load out of the tackle was the correct decision but it found an Eastbourne hand who promptly ran it in to the corner. With the conversion made this put a varnish on the score which the performance probably did not deserve.
Team Manager Gavin Thomas was disappointed but realistic in his summary "I think that was a game that was there for the taking, we had the opportunities but didn't take them- whereas Eastbourne did". Bill Langley named Vince Page as man of the match, a powerful runner in attack "Always looking for the ball" and a destructive presence in defence. He also praised the work of Dale Whittington in the loose and Kim Wan making his bow at prop for his damaging scrummage work.
Team: Wan, Wright, Giles, Pantry-Meyer (Thomas), Barningham, Malthouse, D Whittington, Dedman, Eastwood, Smart, Chambers (Bigg), Page, Price, M Whittington, Kearney (Young) Unused Subs: Mahoney, Langley
