Burgess Hill match report from Coach Matt Pysden.

With the league playoffs just around the corner, Burgess Hill had to win to stand any chance of catching Eastbourne in 3rd place. They decided it was the weekend to pull out all the stops and recall their 7 extremely powerful and talented Fijian players from the Army.

This current and youthful Eastbourne side is really starting to build a reputation for exceptional defence and line speed, which was evident and exciting for the large crowd to see. Clearly the smaller side, but by far the fitter and more conditioned. Eastbourne repelled wave after wave of hard running lines from Burgess Hill, who also posed a different threat in the scrum with an extremely weighty pack. This was a particularly tough test for 19 year old Callum Dell who passed with flying colours to earn man of the match.

With Eastbourne now starting to manage their games better and opting to take the penalty kicks when on offer, Jake Howe kicked two early penalties to lead 6-5, after Burgess hill had earlier crossed in the corner with a well worked try.

Eastbourne’s speed around the pitch in defence and countless offloading in attack, was quickly making this the game of the season.
Eastbourne’s first try was scored by Spike Gleave who now has 11 for the season and Burgess hill just could not cope with the relentless pressure Eastbourne put them under in attack. Jake Howe’s laser guided right boot kicked the extras! With Burgess Hill tiring, Eastbourne went on the offensive and had to endure high tackle after high tackle which unfortunately were not always spotted by the officials, due to the speed of the game.

After Burgess kicked a long range penalty, Spike Gleave crossed for his second try, once again due to the exceptional accuracy and speed of Eastbourne’s attack.

Eastbourne started the second half extremely strong and capped off 7 minutes of dominance with an extremely good and well deserved try by Karl Slaughter, who is currently playing out of position on the open side. It will take a very good performance to dislodge Karl from his new position, if he can continue the form he has shown over the last two weeks.

Burgess Hill scored next with Eastbourne immediately replying through Dylan Becker with one of his trade mark bumps! Jake Howe once again kicked the extras which saw Eastbourne take a comfortable lead for the first time with the score now 32-16. Burgess Hill now had to throw everything at Eastbourne which lead to an intense but exciting 15 or so minutes before Burgess Hill eventually crossing the line to score but the game ended in Eastbourne’s favour 32-23. when the final whistle blew, half the Burgess Hill team dropped to their knees and on to their backs exhausted! Which showed just how much effort they had put in, but it wasn’t good enough for this young and determined Eastbourne side.

The coaching staff now have some real selection headaches, with plenty of players playing well and others returning from injury. Eastbourne look well placed to have a successful run into the end of the season. That is, If the captain and leadership team can keep the concentration of the ‘Yoof’ and complacency doesn’t creep into the squad.

Also recorded in the ‘dispatches’ of the day. We hope this result cheered up the Manger, Adrian ‘Gaffer’ Norwood, after he was unsuspectingly bit on the ‘bum' by a rather excited dog, whilst marking out the pitch!