Men’s 1st XV v Eastbourne 05/03/2005

Away – Sussex Cup

Report by Andy Ward

Won 22-3

Hove seem to have the Indian sign over Eastbourne, beating them in the Cup last season and in the league twice this season. The trend continued as a good second half display saw them through to the semi finals (where they will meet Lewes at the Stanley Turner Ground).

As early as the second minute Hove were on the back foot conceding a penalty, but the kick at goal went wide. In the 8th minute, Eastbourne took the lead with a penalty . The game was marred with too many penalties and not enough open rugby. Both sides were guilty of this and Hove paid the penalty with Open Side John Hathaway getting 10 minutes rest.

On 20 minutes, stand in Stand Off Joe Brooking went off with a cut over the eye and was replaced by Ben Cole . A shuffle was required with Nick Marshall taking over at Stand Off (or five eigths if there are any antipodeans reading this) and Ben going to Outside Centre.

With the 3-0 scoreline surviving till half time, Hove pulled out the stops in the second half. The enforced replacement actually helped the team and perhaps coach Brooking should ponder this! After five minutes of the second half a Hove scrum led to James Finlason scoring after good work by Chris Henderson. Tom Del Monte added the extra two points on offer (he say yeahhhhhh!) to give Hove a 7-3 lead.Only six minutes later Hove increased their lead, when a fine run by Wing Jason Ellison led to Nick Marshall scoring in the corner.

After Jason’s run there was a bit of a scramble and Eastbourne attempted to clear the ball – but a fantastic stop by Jason let Hove in. It is not usual to charge down with your “orchestra halls” but the end justified the means. All team mates were duly sympathetic at Jason’s impersonation of a Viennese choir boy but none felt they could assist in any form of treatment.

Hove were in the ascendancy now and following another good scrum, led by Chris, the ball went out to Blind Side John Medhurst who went for the line, drew the man, took the tackle and passed to Phil Beecham. Alas and alack, Bin Laden must have had other thoughts on his mind and knocked the ball on when a certain try was there for the taking – perhaps he did not want to purchase the traditional jug!

With Hove almost encamped on Eastbourne’s 22 now, in the 68th minute they extended their lead when Nick Marshall scored his second try of the afternoon. Del Monte missed the conversion and so the score remained at 17-3 to Hove.

The visitors now completed the rout with another try 2 minutes from the end. Again, following a scrum, James Finlason scored his second and Hove’s fourth to make the score 22-3 to Hove. This remained until the end with Hove going through to the semis. Eastbourne 3 Hove 22.