Eastbourne had to give second best to the Sussex All Blacks but by the narrowest of margins. In a pulsating match at Park Lane, the result was in doubt until the very end. Burgess Hill certainly went home knowing that they had been in a terrific game; the Blue & Golds more than deserved their losing bonus point.

From the start, it was their well organised pack which characterised the visitors` play. It was no surprise that an early line out catch was driven forward giving a simple grounding for the flanker. The conversion was successful but from the restart Eastbourne drove upfield and only a handling error in the final move prevented an equalising score. However the first penalty opportunity was handed to Nathan Ring who took the kick beautifully to put points on the home scoreboard. However at 3-7, the Eastbourne fly half Liam Pyle was adjudged to have deliberately knocked on and was sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes. It was no surprise that the Hillians seized the advantage with their veteran No. 8 going over. A conversion and a further penalty kick took the score to 3-17 and the gap in the scoreline looked increasingly threatening. However as the clock moved towards half time, Eastbourne struck back. A fine cross field move involving slick passing put Carl Slaughter over in the corner. Although the conversion failed, a silly penalty was conceded by the visitors and Ring kicked a valuable three pointer. 11-17 at half time.

With advantage of the slope, the Blue & Golds began brightly but the visitors, led by their influential Fijian hooker, again dominated the tight play and it was only the tackle count of Skidmore and Smith who kept them at bay. Another unnecessary penalty gifted them a further 3 points but one moment of joyous play brought Eastbourne back. `Fred` Adoki had barely touched the ball during the first half but his run down the left flank midway through the second half was followed by quick ball from the ruck by which time Adoki appeared between his two centres and streaked over for a very well worked try.

A nasty injury to flanker James Smith took him from the field but a penalty for each side left the margin at 4 points to the end. Eastbourne will rue the number of penalties conceded but know that to a man they acquitted themselves with pride. Next up is the cup tie, at home with a 2.00 pm kick off

Eastbourne; Williams, Bettles, DeLieto C, Thomas, DeLiieto J, Skidmore, Smith, Redman (c), Rohan, Pyle, Adoki, Ring, Everett, Slaughter, Keen, Hills, Giles, Smith
Spectators man of the match:- Mo Rohan