Rye never had any answer to the pace of Stevenson, Linscott and Redman and the nine tries scored were no less than the team deserved. From a 3-0 lead, the pack drove Chris Chilvers over to establish early superiority but it was the second quarter when Eastbourne turned the screw and scored a further five tries. Within the space of 20 minutes, scrum half and man of the match Matt Stevenson scored his second hat trick of the season, his first try being an exceptional solo effort. Picking up on halfway, he chipped over the Rye defence and followed up to gain the bounce of the ball and allow his speed to do the rest. The efforts of Skeet and Redman helped him to his second and third. Between his tries, a clever kick ahead by No.10 Stefan Cousins allowed Max Cheater to cross under the posts and despite being reduced to 14 men when Nick King was adjudged to have committed a technical offence, the home side kept up the pressure to dominate right up to the half time whistle. Excellent work by Liam Eyre and Redman put Jack Linscott into space and at pace and his try was able to give a half time cushion of 39-0.

Substitutions were made by coach Chumbley for the second half and a fine score put Matt Baldwin on the board after only 5 minutes. Trailing by 40 points and themselves down to 14 as a result of a yellow card, Rye`s frustration let them down. Their hooker was given a red card for abusing the referee and following a mass brawl, they were lucky not to have been reduced further. Meanwhile the home side tried to remain focussed and although they lost the momentum to some extent, two further tries sealed the win. A clever inside pass by Eyre allowed substitute Aaron Stevenson to burst through and then nearing the final whistle, Cheater got his second following good work by winger Nick King. Five conversions and a well struck penalty from the boot of fly half Cousins demonstrated a major improvement in kicking from the tee.

Club Chairman Fraser Brooks was full of praise for the significant progress which everybody will hope can be maintained when Crowborough visit Park Avenue next week.

Eastbourne Team Eyre; Bettles; Webb; Chilvers; Hayllar; Redman; Curtis; Skeet; Stevenson M; Cousins; King; Baldwin; Cheater; Slaughter; Linscott; Wyatt; Funnell; Stevenson A.

Man-of-the-match - Scrum Half Matt Stevenson