Battling show but quality wins through in the end

London 2 SouthGuildford 46 Lewes 14 This result might have been expected given the relative league positions with the experienced and unbeaten hosts taking on struggling visitors. Even so, it was an entertaining game, played in good spirit despite some refereeing inconsistencies.

After good pressure from the kick-off Lewes full-back Neil Rumble put over a penalty after three minutes, but for the next quarter of a hour an aggressive and mobile home side tested the Lewes defence and they eventually went over for an unconverted try.

Lewes responded and a few minutes later after clever kicks and sustained recycling scrum-half Matt Sole scored from short range. Rumble failed to convert but the score was 8-5 to Lewes.

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The game now entered a critical stage, with Rumble's break-out and passing movement wasted by a fumble on the line. A Guildford attack moved them back 60 yards, ending with Guilford's No.6 scoring under the posts, the conversion again being missed.

At 10-8 down Lewes were well into the game, but back-chat from Matt Sole wasted a good opportunity and it was further punished by a try from Warner.

Although Lewes went close, again the short-range passing was awry and Lewes were 17-8 down at the interval.

Lewes replaced the influential forward Chris Brandt due to injury and they seemed to lose concentration with the result that Guildford scored tries on 45, 52, 53 and 55 minutes.

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This knocked the stuffing out of a disorganised defence which too often tried to run the ball out of trouble rather than kick for safety.

The replacement of prop-forward Ryan Hawkes, by moving Jason Lundin from lock, and the introduction of Treve Tagg into the second row, made little difference.

But with Guildford now out of sight at 46-8, a good forward movement by Lewes led to several rucks on the home line. This period of pressure ended with a penalty try awarded to Lewes for continued infringement by Guildford. Rumble struck his third successful kick to round off the scoring at 46-15.

The Lewes pack '“ although beginning to tire after their Herculean efforts '“ nevertheless continued to win a fair share of the ball in the tight and loose, and a good run by winger Tom Saunders was stopped only a few yards short.

As a final petulant flourish Lewes lock-forward Lee Raikes was yellow-carded for preventing a short penalty attempt.

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