H&B see off neighbours

In a hectic, often shapeless but always competitive contest, H&B took a dominant first half lead, only to be pegged back by an Eastbourne fightback in the second half before taking a full house of points with a brace of tries in the final minutes.

Two Anthony Roche tries and Paul Sandeman conversions gave H&B a 14-0 lead before Joe Knight barreled over in the corner with Sandeman kicking a difficult conversion for a 21-0 half time cushion.

Eastbourne reduced their deficit to 21-12 with two tries in the space of four second half minutes, but scores from Bruce Steadman and a late Piers Claughton effort, converted by Sandeman, sealed the win.

Elsewhere in Sussex One, a heavily depleted Rye side put up a spirited performance in going down 42-21 away to second-placed Holbrook.

Rye actually won the second half 21-12 with Pete Brown, Dave Blackman and Charlie Clark going over for the tries and Chris Edwards converting each of them.

Full reports on both games will appear in Friday’s Observers.

Sussex One standings (played 19 matches unless stated): 1 Uckfield 92pts, 2 Holbrook 64, 3 Pulborough 63, 4 HASTINGS & BEXHILL 58, 5 Burgess Hill (18) 58, 6 Seaford 46, 7 Worthing III (18) 39, 8 Brighton II 35, 9 East Grinstead II (18) 31, 10 RYE 29, 11 Eastbourne II 18, 12 St Francis (18) 12.