Eastbourne 1st team (70) Burgess Hill 1st team (3)

Burgess Hill started strong with scrum dominance which Eastbourne have not encountered so far this season and the away side managed to force Eastbourne into conceding a penalty. This kick started Eastbourne, who have normally started games very well this season, into action and they scored 70 unanswered points.

The Eastbourne coaching team are trying to stick firmly to their philosophy of "fit, fast and fun!" which was in full evidence from this point onwards. This was the second time, at home, that Eastbourne have put a large score on a team. Every try was scored by a back, enabled by the hard working forwards who made big holes for them to attack wide at pace and with very slick handling.

The first half saw Dylan Viles score two tries in 10 minutes, great to see him continuing his good form for the season following a week off due to injury.

Mason Dowle scored his first of three superb tries and also secured the Man of the Match. Mason has played superbly since a long lay off and has really put his claim down to start regularly in the back three.

Gianluca Bianchi scored two tries in 5 minutes from the right wing, and also secured a hattrick which took him to ten tries in three games. Jake Howe kicked 2 conversions in the first half, which is off for him, but considering Eastbourne were playing into a very strong wind, the half time score of 34-3 was very pleasing.

The second half saw Ryan Shields come off the bench and make a fantastic impact to put his claim in for the extremely competitive, and impressive back row positions, and keep the pressure on his team mates. Ian Padget also came off the bench after having started every other game, and had a half at scrum half and capped it off with a try made by number 8 Jeremy Montes, who once again made some serious yards and impressive offloads.

The second half saw captain Jake Howe score two excellent tries and kick 3 conversions which was very pleasing for his team to see after missing a week with injury. Jake has really led by example, supported brilliantly by pack leader and club stalwart, Joe Bettles.

The second half was played at a blistering pace and also saw Bianchi and Dowle complete their hattricks, which were a combination of both team tries and solo effort and once again showed off their speed and power.

This was Eastbourne's most complete performance of the season and testament to the hard training from each and every player and the consistent numbers at training - regularly exceeding 40 players.

The game was only marred by the very popular Martial Chaput, starting his first game after an ankle injury, getting a knock to the head after an awkward tackle towards the end of the game, which showed Burgess Hill kept on fighting to the final whistle. Thankfully Martial was fine but will have to watch from the side lines for a couple of weeks.

The final score was Eastbourne 70, Burgess Hill 3. Eastbourne are now top of the league based on their strong point difference. They travel to Haywards Heath on Saturday 22nd October, which will easily be the toughest test of the season so far.

MOM - Mason Dowle.
DOD - Chris 'Ernie' Hoskings

Team
Chris Hoskings
Joe Bettles
Joe Barnett
Luke Thomas
Josh Buckwell
Owen Davies
Vincent Morse
Jeremy Montes
Harrison Gibbons
Aaron Hossacks
Dylan Viles
Martial Chaput
Jake Howe
Gianluca Bianchi
Mason Dowle

Bench

Alun Crunch
Ian Padget
Ryan Shields