Lewes RFC

East Grinstead were relegated from Counties One last season and their impressive form so far this time round has made them firm favourites to win Counties Two, having won all three games so far scoring over sixty points in two of them.

However they were faced by a resilient Lewes team that had also won all their league games, and gave them an early fright minutes into the game when Jordy Smith made an interception and scored under the posts, converting the try to put the visitors into the lead at 0-7.

East Grinstead then proceeded to play to their strength which lies firmly in a formidable scrum, and when they won a penalty at a scrum, they decided to have a go at goal to reduce the deficit. The kick missed though, but it wasn’t long before another penalty gave them a chance with an attacking line out.

This line out led to a rolling maul that eventually got over the Lewes line for a try. The conversion hit the post and so Lewes were still ahead. There was chance to increase the lead from their own penalty kick, but this slid just past the posts. However, Lewes’ brilliant defence was proving more than a match for their powerful opponents and it wasn’t until the last five minutes of the half that East Grinstead struck twice to turn the tide in their favour.

Lewes’ tackling had been superb and the outstanding performer for them had been Harry Rees. However, it was while he was off the field with a head injury that East Grinstead bagged their two tries. Just one of these was converted, and this left the half time score at 17-7.

The second half had hardly started when the home side increased their lead to 22-7 and gained their try bonus point. But what was worse for Lewes was the yellow card received by tight-head prop, Ian Thomas, which seriously depleted their pack. The inevitable pushover try followed with the conversion taking the score to 29-7.

When they got back to fifteen men, Lewes got themselves strongly back in the game. They did well to stand up to the formidable home pack, and produced some fluent moves in the backs that East Grinstead found difficult to contain. However East Grinstead counter-attacked and went back up the pitch to score under the posts to take their lead to 36-7.

When Jordy Smith put skipper, Raff Green, through a gap, his splendid run nearly reaped dividends before he lost control of the ball under pressure. This was more than made up for when from the same attack, another fluid move saw Jack Soltermann stride through from full back to score a deserved consolation try for the visitors.

Smith converted the try, but it was East Grinstead who finished the game with a final score that made the result a 43-14 home win. This leaves them clear on the top of the table with 20 points. Pulborough who won at Brighton are now second on 17 points with Lewes in third place with 15 points.

After playing three of their four matches away, Lewes will at last be at home to Eastbourne on 22^nd November, before an away fixture at Ditchling on 29^th November. On 13^th December Lewes will be hosting Seaford and holding their Vice Presidents’ Pre-Match Lunch, before visiting Brighton for the final game of 2025 on 20^th December.

Lewes team: Soltermann; Goode, Green (captain), Harvey, Rees; Smith, Lacy; Dadswell, Simmonds, Thomas; Brooker, Bradford; Cross, Weston, Medhurst. Replacements: Sayers, Petty, Roy.