A gloriously sunny day at Steel Cross for the Colts to play their top of the table clash against old rivals Lewes.

The start was electric as the kick off went to scrum half David who offloaded to No8 Josh Rhodes who went on a barnstorming run back at the Lewes pack making almost up to halfway before being tackled. Unfortunately the ref judged he’d been held in the tackle and penalised him for getting back up to carry on. Fine margins but an encouraging start.

Lewes kept possession well and went through their phases patiently to earn the first try of the match after 4 minutes, successfully converted.

0-7

The next 10 minutes were close until Jacob Rhodes broke clear on a barnstorming run to match his brothers' earlier effort, offloading to Finn Croll who dotted down for the first Crowborough try, the conversion just drifting wide.

5-7

A period of pressure from both sides where Crowborough were unlucky to have Josh Rhodes pulled back from another storming run for crossing - very harsh in my opinion having watched the video back!! No such doubt though when Toby was pulled back for being in front of the kicker - he wasn't even in the same half as the kicker!!

It took until 31 minutes for the deadlock to be broken as the two sides threw everything at each other. Eventually Josh Radford went over from close range for the home side, converted by Captain Jonte to take a 12-7 lead into half time.

The second half started as the first with both sides giving no quarter. Lewes opened the scoring again with a converted try to take the lead.

12-14

Crowborough were not to buckle and a crashing run by centre George resulted in a try that fullback Ollie converted to restore the lead.

19-14

5 minutes after the restart Crowborough were awarded a penally in front of the posts that Jonte kicked to gain an 8 point advantage and relieve the pressure.

22-14

A breakaway try from the restart with Elliot Rensch making a run down the touch line, offloading to Finn for his second try of the day, converted by Ollie

29-14

With 8 minutes left Lewes threw everything at the home team, making it difficult to clear the lines.

At the death Lewes got another converted try to bring the scores at the end to 29-21.

The support from the gallery was immense. The squad spirit from all players, regardless of if they got on or not, is superb.

Played in great spirit, these two teams have a history that goes back to the very first U7 tag rugby festival when they drew the final, with Lewes winning to a “golden try” in extra time. A great way for the current U18s to play their final season with a close battle against the team they started out against 11 years ago!

Match video here: https://app.veo.co/matches/20220130-lewes/