A stirring performance but at a cost.

Sadly though it was a serious injury in the first 10 minutes to Eastbourne skipper Joe Tobin, which galvanised his teammates to work doubly hard on his behalf and a 7 try victory was the end result. Such was the nature of the injury that play was delayed and then moved to the adjacent pitch whilst medical treatment was administered.

With play restarted, two quick penalties from Nathan Ring put Eastbourne onto the front foot. On the half hour, Eastbourne were given the put-in at a 5 metre scrummage and No. 8 Luke Turner was able to crash over. Ring`s conversion was inevitable and from the start of the second half, Eastbourne were able to turn the screw. Turner`s driving in both the loose and tight game was simply inspirational; behind him Coulthard and Ring looked the class players that they are

On 15 minutes Couthard`s grubber kick led to a foot race once the ball crossed the line and this was won easily by Eastbourne winger Luke Sage. Shortly after, a soaring line-out catch by Curtis led to a driving maul and Dan Keen being rewarded with a typical prop forward`s try.

The final quarter provided a decent crowd with the best rugby of the day. No.8 Turner crowned his best performance with 2 further tries; Nathan Ring ran through 4 tackles to score brilliantly and even Matt Mottram was able to get into the act with 5 points of his own. With Ring adding 3 conversions in the second half the final score was a true reflection of the dominance of the home side. With a three week lay-off over Christmas, the side can look forward to the new year with confidence

Eastbourne: Barron, Bettles, Keen, Tobin, Mottram, Redman, Light, Turner, Aitkenhead, Cousins, Sage, Ring, Stevenson, Fenner, Coulthard, Chilvers, Curtis, Oakey

MoM - Luke Turner - outstanding