Eastbourne notch impressive win over Old Rutlishians

Josh Buckwell, standing in as captain, led the team out against the hotly favoured Old Ruts, who Eastbourne had lost to twice last season. However, this time things were different.

Playing into a headwind, it was a possession game for the home side – until Spike Gleave, playing out of position in the centre alongside Dylan Viles (who was to score first), adapted to cover for the injured Ronnie Dorry Palmer and captain Jake Howe. Both stepped up to the challenge superbly.

Aaron Hossack took over goal-kicking duties and hit 100% off the tee in Howe’s absence, leading to chants of “Jake who?” from the buoyant home fans – all in good spirit, of course.

Aaron’s conversion and penalty gave Eastbourne a 10-0 lead. They looked the more dominant side in the first half, but a soft penalty and try allowed the visitors to draw level by half-time.

With the wind and sun now at their backs, Eastbourne really put their foot to the floor and attacked Old Ruts. A superb read of a pass by the horse-like Jack Curtis allowed him to speed away for half a pitch length to score under the posts.

Old Ruts responded with a penalty to keep the game close before youngster Finn Warner, coming in for the injured Justin Funnel, ran a lovely line to finish off a well-worked backs’ set-piece try.

Eastbourne were denied a try due to a poorly timed tackle and a bad head collision involving Dylan Viles, which resulted in a red card for Old Ruts. They were also denied a penalty try, which they felt should have been awarded. However, Mason Dowle crossed for Eastbourne with another well-worked try, redeeming himself for his earlier error that had led to Old Ruts’ first-half try.

Old Ruts put the home side under pressure following a penalty from Hossack, eventually scoring a well-deserved try.

The game finished in style with a break from the Eastbourne 22m line. Ollie “The Manatee” Horley trundled up the pitch, ignoring the easy pass to Gleave, to make a more difficult but impressive pass to Finn Warner, who raced away under the posts and secured the try bonus point.

It was great to see the squad depth coming into play, along with the returning scrum-half Leon “Spider Monkey” Wood.

Man of the match could have gone to any of several players – from Owen Davis at No8 to Gleave at 13 – but was eventually awarded to Aaron “The Racing Snake” Hossack for a controlled game and excellent kicking.

Eastbourne travel to Crowborough this weekend for a National Cup and Sussex Cup double-header, kick-off 2pm.

The Eastbourne Nomads finished their pre-season in style by beating Horsham threes away, 40-19. They now turn their attention to facing Jersey Royals in the cup on Sunday (Sept 28) at Park Avenue.