Eastbourne 2nds have had a mixture of results for this season and travelling to the hallowed Willoughby Fields where Crawley RFC has yet to register a loss would be a big ask.

Eastbourne kicked off and a new structured Crawley took some time getting settled. Wave after wave was thrown at the Crawley line and time and time again the opposition was propelled backwards until Eastbourne was awarded a penalty for offside play. This opportunity in the 15th minute was missed and through the boot of ever increasing Joe Fleming the ball was cleared 45 meters down the field. Immediately through a win against the throw young up and coming second rower Rory Cooper spoilt the ball allowing Crawley Captain Sam Basson to set up James Bonny for a straight sprint for the corner and a well deserved first try of two giving him a grand and well deserved total of 16 points.

From there the game went one way.
As Crawley piled on the pressure the visitors game plan folded although managing to consolidate what small possession they had did well on the day.
Returning Veteran blindside flanker Travers Beaton went about business as usual stealing ball after ball at the breakdown area whilst fellow back rower Joe Spurgeon dashed over scoring his first of three tries for the day.

HT CRAWLEY RFC 34 – EASTBOURNE 0

The second half started much the same as the first half finished. Coach Jayde Wilkinson made some changes which saw young dynamic scrum half Daniel Crumplin move into fly half. Some good forward play from Andrew Ash and St Francis convert dean Riley pick up the pace creating fantastic protection for new first game Under 18 Harrison Mitchell to dictate the new pace of the game.

After Ali Moffatt scored his second try and the game was all but over with the home team winning in an emphatic 58 – 0 home victory.
Coach Jayde Wilkinson said after the game that Crawley Senior Club is moving in the right direction. We have already won more games than the previous two years put together but we can still get better. I am extremely impressed with the boys over the weekend with some good play coming from good phases. We just need to concentrate on our lapses in concentration but again you can’t take it away from the boys, they turned up to play today and they had plenty of bite and fight about them in the process. We go to Horley next week, I think it will be very interesting as they are a position above us on the table.

FT CRAWLEY RFC 58 – EASTBOURNE 0

6 x Conversions - 12
8 x Tries - 40
2 x Penalty Kicks - 6