Littlehampton on a roll as they reach semi-finals

After back-to-back league wins had moved them up to fourth in Sussex League Division 4 West, Littlehampton continued their momentum to reach the last four of the Vase.

From the outset the teams looked equal and spent time in each other’s half.

Shoreham showed the most promise with a driving scrum in the early stages but it took until the 22nd minute for the opening try.

A great offload from Bryan Newman on the wing released Matt Atkinson to go over the line. Ben Best’s conversion, kicking into the wind, hit a post.

The first try put Littlehampton in the driving seat and they added a second just five minutes later when Bruce Moite went over under the posts and Harry Perry converted.

Littlehampton continued to attack, while Shoreham got stuck in to try to get something on the board before the first half was over.

It was Littlehampton who scored again late in the first half when Craig Boddington jumped over a ruck to touch down and make the half-time score 17-0.

Littlehampton kicked off the second half and Shoreham had possession for a while until Littlehampton turned the ball over. They then upped their tempo going forward and that resulted in Atkinson going over for his second try.

The hosts continued to dominate going forward as Shoreham struggled to get out of their own half.

Littlehampton scored two tries in quick succession through Gary Keirle and Boddington, with Perry converting the first.

Boddington completed his hat-trick and Perry converted to make the score 41-0, before Littlehampton added a late eighth try against a Shoreham side who fought to the end when Lee Bailey was released to touch down and Perry again converted.

Littlehampton captain Gareth Rose said: “As my first cup game as captain of Littlehampton, I asked the boys to give me a win.

“With dogged deter-mination they worked for every point they scored, while defending our gain line like true heroes, giving us a 48-0 win.

“I couldn’t have asked for more.”

Littlehampton travel to Shoreham 2nd in the league on Saturday.

Littlehampton welcome new players to join the team. Training is at The Littlehampton Academy every Wednesday from 6.30pm. Anyone interested is welcome to attend.

LITTLEHAMPTON: C.Keirle, Newman, Phillips, Chappell, Rose, Wood, Boddington, Perry, Best, Myring, Redman, Moite, White, Atkinson, G.Keirle, Morely, Sambrook, Bailey.