Lewes RFC

Before the game there was a period of silence to honour the memory of Dave Tyrrell, a former Lewes fly-half, whose funeral was earlier in the week. He had left us far too young.

If Lewes thought that they were going to have an easy ride against bottom of the table Crawley, they were given a quick reality check when a kick was charged down and Crawley had a clear run to the line. It was captain Raf Green who rallied his troops, cutting out careless kicking and following the coaching mantra of “pass; pass; penetrate; regroup.”

And it was Green who made a break and put Jack Soltermann in for the equalising score. Lewes then were able to take the lead when Ben Goode found a gap and touched down for Thomas Moore to convert. It was going to be interesting to see how well the Lewes backline would cope without Jordy Smith who is now on his way home to New Zealand, but centres Goode and Green were in sparkling form and they were well served by the fluent half back pairing of Lacy and Moore.

Then it was Raf Green who added a third try after a good Lewes move. Moore’s conversion took the score to 19-5. So far it was the running of the backs that had provided the scoring opportunities, but out of the blue Tom Petty, recalling his past life as a winger, who outflanked the Crawley defence to dot down the bonus point try. And then he only went and did it again, taking the score to 31-5, with Moore’s conversion, at half time.

 The second half started with a great run by Darryl Benson down the right wing in front of the Lewes supporters who hoped he would go all the way. But he passed inside to Jack Soltermann to score, and this was followed by Jack doing it all on his own to run the length of the field to get his hat trick. The reliable Thomas Moore kept on adding the conversions and the Lewes score had now reached 45 points.

Jack Soltermann has had an excellent season at full back, and was really stretching his legs against a tiring Crawley defence. When his next opportunity presented itself, the crowd urged him to share the glory with the popular Lewes hooker, Ben Simmonds. And there he was in support to touch down the eighth Lewes try.

 Raf Green was showing his captaincy skills all through this game, lading by example and inspiration. Unselfishly, his dummy runs often paved the way for others to find defensive gaps, so it was most deserved that he, too, should go on to get his hat trick of tries. However, before he had completed this, Crawley, to their immense credit, launched a strong attack of the Lewes lines.

Despite Lewes’ strong defensive resistance, Crawley did break through to score a consolation try, but with Green’s hat trick and Moore’s imperious goal kicking, the final score was 66-10. Following the game, the end of season award tankards were presented as follows:

Player of the Year: Ben Goode,

Players' player of the Year: Raf Green

Most Improved Player: Ben Simmonds

Club Man of the Year: Sean Sayers

 Lewes team: Soltermann; Benson. R. Green (captain), Goode, George-Coker; Smith, Moore, Lacy; Thomas, Simmonds, Gage; Sale, Petty; Henshaw, Moran, Weston. Replacements: Carr, Hutchings, Bray.