Eastbourne RFC march into Bob Rogers Sussex Cup final

Standing in their way was a young, physical and aggressive Worthing As team, who were playing their first game in the competition due to a bye in the quarter-final.

The game kicked off on Worthing’s first team pitch which was heavy underfoot due to recent rain. Eastbourne started strongly with long spells of possession and aggressive defence off the ball.

Despite the conditions, Eastbourne were able to spread the ball and target to wide channels. After 15 minutes, Jeremy Montes received the ball out wide and swatted a couple of defenders out of his way to run in Eastbourne’s first try of the half. Jake Howe missed the conversion, which was a shock to the crowd.

Eastbourne then absorbed some pressure in their own half and conceded a penalty which Worthing converted into 3 points. Eastbourne quickly found themselves back on the attack and Leon Wood scored under the posts after some slick handling from his fellow backs. His try was converted by Howe.

Eastbourne’s set-piece has been a strength of the squad this season and that didn’t let up. After Jack Curtis secured another lineout, Josh Buckwell found himself in possession with the try line screaming out to him. A leg-pumping run, while towing a Worthing defender or two, saw Buckwell touch down for Eastbourne’s third try of the half, once again converted by Howe.

The second half kicked off with the home side trailing 3-19 and they came out of the blocks with a point to prove. Eastbourne were up to the challenge, led by the physicality of Ben Gower’s ferocious tackles.

Understanding the assignment, Vincent Morse also put his body on the line and it was great to see ‘The Inspector’ back in an Eastbourne shirt.

After absorbing a lot of pressure, Eastbourne’s defensive wall was finally penetrated and Worthing scored an unconverted try.

It was back and forth for the next 15 minutes. Pressure started to tell as Eastbourne strung together a good set of phases which saw Konrad O’Neil power over from a whole meter out. Howe converted again, taking his total points scored for the season over the 200 mark.

The final 10 minutes of the game saw Eastbourne camped in their own twenty-two and they found it difficult to relieve the pressure. A string of penalties saw Aaron 'tubby 10' Hossack and Stuart Baker sent to the bin for 10 minutes.

Not to be outdone, Chris ‘Ernie’ Hosking also received a yellow card and somehow gave away a penalty try for back chat, something which the Eastbourne coaches had not seen before.

The game finished 15-26 to the visitors and Eastbourne are now Sussex Cup finalists.