The Hastings and Bexhill squad for this Sussex Vase Final contained an excellent combination of youth and experience; however on the day they were not quite good enough to overcome old rivals Eastbourne.

Hastings scored three good tries, which at one stage in the second half brought the score to 15-17, including two push-overs touched down by No 8 Chris Butler at the base of the scrum and a third notched by John Hanagarth after coming on as a second half replacement. But Eastbourne exposed the inexperience of the H&B defence, capitalising on breakaways against the run of play to score their four converted tries.

The 1st XV meanwhile travelled to Motspur Park in south west London for a second round tie with Old Blues in the Papa Joes Community Cup. They emerged narrow victors 27-25 in the final seconds of the game after tries from Harry Walker, Jacob McDonagh, Bruce Steadman and Tom Hirst, coupled with some excellent kicking from Steadman. 

At the time of going to press the details of the next round aren’t known, but the game will be played tomorrow (Saturday). The quarter final round of the Bob Rogers Cup in which H&B are due to play Burgess Hill has been postponed.