Crawley 1st XV 29 Hove 2nd XV 5

In conditions that made the ball behave like a bar of soap Crawley were quick to register points against the visitors with Ali Moffat bursting through the defences, Andy Evans took the extra points from the conversion putting the home side seven points up within ten minutes of the starting whistle.
The visitors rallied and were soon to be back in touch as miscommunication from Crawley allowed them into the corner for a try with still only twelve minutes of the game played.
Crawley’s Barry Theobald was next on the score sheet following a text book driving maul from a lineout just ten metres from the Hove line, and with only ten minutes of the half left and Hove defending well it took the half time score to 12-5.
Some half time changes from Crawley brought Alfie Spurgeon and Richard Hewitt into the game and within ten minutes both had registered points for the home side, Hewitt with an outrageous dummy pass and sidestep which allowed him a forty metre run under the post and Spurgeon with a penalty kick and the extra points from the conversion.
As the condition of the playing surface worsened and the ball refusing to stick to anyone’s hands the game continued with many errors and no real headway was to be made by either side until scrum half Ben Searle found some space on the blindside and jinked his way over the line in his familiar style.
Theobald, Mansfield, Eaton, Gosling, Barnes, Dean, Morgan-Smith, Hall, Searle, Evans, Patto, Moffat, L Wilson, Keeley, Bowen, A Wilson, Spurgeon, Hewitt.