Steyning too strong for tough Police side.

After a fantastic clash earlier in the season, this was always going to be a hard fought affair.
Due to fixture congestion at their Brighton home, Sussex Police asked if the match could be played at Steyning, we were only to happy to accommodate.

Steyning went into the game hungry for a win and set on imposing our game plan on the opposition.
Knowing their ability to compete hard at the breakdown and attack from broken play, Steyning kept the ball well the first whistle, showing great discipline and patience going through the phases, not giving the Police back line any time or space to operate when they had the ball in hand.

Fist Half
Most of the first 25 minutes was spent camped in the Police's half, with a few opportunities close to the line going amiss, including a penalty after 16 minutes from Grant Wright which went wide.
Steyning finally got the breakthrough via captain Jon Hamley - a cheeky pick and drive from a fractious ruck - after 25 minutes, unfortunately the conversion was missed. 0 - 5. Ten minutes later the Police managed to level the score having kicked into the corner, the resulting line out and a strongly driven maul saw them dot the ball down, 5 - 5.
That was how the half ended, all square with everything to play for...

Second Half
The second half started much like the first (the referee blowing his whistle!), with both teams keeping the ball tight and competing aggressively at the breakdown, which Steyning managed very well, once again showing a great temperament to keep to our game plan and break Sussex Police down.
Steyning started to bring on some fresh legs after 5 minutes of the second half, and shortly after Matt Hodson crashed over after some great phase play to take the hosts into a lead again, conversion missed. 5 - 10.
After more changes in the backs division, Steyning's relentless rush defence paid off after Alex Pell-Stevens made an excellent intercept just inside the Police half and managed to run in under the posts. Conversion by Grant Wright scored. 5 - 17.
After this, Steyning emptied the bench and the fresh legs again paid off as 9 minutes from the end Matt Hodson again managed to cross the line to finish the game off well and truly. Conversion missed. 5 - 22.

And that's how it finished, a great performance all round from the whole squad.
MOTM went to Nathan Roberts for a stand out performance in the front row, a full 80 and too many huge ball carries to count.
Greg Payne won his first cap too. Well done.

Well done all, see you next week when we face Shoreham 2's at Steyning!