Saturday 21st September, day 2 of the Rugby World Cup and week 2 of the Harvey’s of Sussex 1 league fixtures. Both competitions equally difficult to call who will take the title, making each match crucial to win. The last time East Grinstead travelled Eastbourne, EG lost by 52 points. But since then a new structure has been implemented, S&C has been ramped up and new players are coming through the clubs ranks. This is highlighted by having only 3 players of the 18 man squad this weekend having been involved in the previous loss against Eastbourne.
The match started with East Grinstead kicking downhill with the sun behind them. Oli Billin put the ball high, allowing openside flanker Matt Tomkinson to chase it down and win the aerial battle on Eastbourne’s 22 to retain possession from the start. For the majority of the first half this is where most of the rugby was played with EG having the lion’s share of possession. The hard work being put in at training was evident with the forwards securing the ball well, providing the backs the platform to execute their plays – with an extra bit of flair thrown in, clearly inspired from the southern hemisphere teams who’d played in the morning, to our Kiwi Head Coaches delight (when they pulled it off that is). The defensive effort from Eastbourne we superb, holding the score at 0-0 for a large proportion of the half. Both of the first half tries came late in the half from outside centre Max Crawley-Moore, both the result of great ball handling skills and the forwards linking up well with the backs. The first try came from an offload from blindside flanker Ben Saunders to Crawley-Moore on the wing and the second try came from an offload from hooker Mark Oliver off the wing back inside to Crawley-Moore, running in both tries from 15 meters out, manoeuvring Eastbourne defenders. Oli Billin’s converting one of the tries.
First half score: Eastbourne 0 – 12 East Grinstead
After the restart, Eastbourne turned up like a completely different team and it came as a shock to East Grinstead who arguably entered the half complacently. Eastbourne pinned EG into their corner almost immediately in the half and after 5 minutes of phase play and with the aid of the referee blocking the EG defence, Eastbourne exploited a hole, and crashed down next to the posts. Eastbourne’s 10 being a very capable place kicker, slotted an easy extra 2 points for Eastbourne. Eastbourne continued to try break down the EG defence, running hard lines, carrying well, using the 13 to cut in behind defenders caught in no man’s land. On the 50th minute Eastbourne managed to score and convert another try, putting Eastbourne in the lead for the first time in the game. For those who were witness to our opening league game against Eastbourne in the 2018/19 season, horrible flashbacks arose of EG throwing away a 17-0 lead at half time to finish 17-17. Fortunately, the boys showed incredible resilience in defence. EG saw a lot less of the ball in the second half, but when EG had hands on they were clinical, handling errors were minimal and the 5th try of the game came as a result of fullback Steven Cooke joining the attacking line, providing the extra man to create an overlap for Oliver Adams to exploit space to touch down in the corner, bringing EG back into the lead on the 65th minute. Billin expertly kicked the conversion from a wide angle, providing EG a 3 point lead. The next 15 minutes was a huge test of the EG defence. Eastbourne looked to break EG down with big carries, utilising their larger pack, targeting our smaller players. Unfortunately for Eastbourne, one of our smaller players was Gus Nye, who had come on off the bench playing at openside flanker. In the final 15 minutes, Nye made 3 try saving turnovers at the breakdown. Extinguishing the momentum which Eastbourne had been building, nullifying the exposure EG had created in their defence by being sucked into the breakdowns.
In the final minutes of the game, EG won a penalty within kicking range for Billin who converted, providing the 6 point buffer, where the score finished, 14-20 EG.
Due to Nye arguably preventing EG from losing the game at the end of the second half, he rightfully was named Man of the Match (sod it), for his incredible work rate and being a nuisance at the breakdown. As Morgan Burger put it “some of the best turnovers I’ve seen since Dan Arnold”, high praise indeed.
Step 2 complete, 20 steps to go.
#ONWARDS!