Bromley arrived at Hampden Park fielding a strong pack within a very competent all-round side. They utilised this strength by deploying two particular weapons to which the home side had no answer. Firstly the rolling maul, usually following a line out from close quarters. Secondly the `punch` move whereby two big forwards stand 5 metres from the ruck, suck the ball in and make the second phase so much easier. Of the visitors seven tries, three came directly from these moves which combined with pace from the open runners, made for a one sided match

After the opening score on 5 minutes, Ben Barter was able to draw 3 points back after Bromley were penalised for off-side. However from that point on it was the visitors who dominated the next 70 minutes on the field. Mistakes in the home defence were always punished by Bromley. Their 4th try was a thing of particular beauty; a move involving numerous hands and a sweet reverse pass by the scrum half to give the scoring pass. Perhaps the only positive sign for Eastbourne came just before half time when they were unlucky not to score after excellent work by Nick King and in particular Chris Chilvers.

3-24 at the restart quickly became 3-29 after the ball was dropped from a winning line out and a swift turn of foot by the Bromley hooker made space for a yet another score. Two further tries followed to take the visitors beyond the 40 point mark. But then the game was marred by an extraordinary action by the Bromley prop; in a game which had been played in a thoroughly sportsmanlike manner throughout, he was spotted by the referee engaging in some skulduggery and despatched on a red card.

This gave Eastbourne some advantage and with 5 minutes left on the clock, the home No.8 James Grey crashed over to record the final score of the day. In all the Blue & Golds will be disappointed not to have run their opponents closer. They will have to approach the next game at Folkestone on March 5th hoping to return to better form

Eastbourne:- Bowry Sinclair Chilvers Van Bentham, Farley, Cousins, Redman, Grey, Pysden, Barter, Hiremutt, Cheater, Clark, Petrides, King, Garcia, Thomas, McKay