Surrey 1st XV 29-20 Brighton 2nd XV

In their first BUCS fixture of the season, the Surrey Men’s Rugby Club 1st XV produced a winning start to their campaign. The team will be pleased to start the season with a solid win.

It would have been wrong to expect Surrey to be at their fluent best since the side is much changed from last year. With 3 players returning from placement years, and 4 freshers joining the team, as well as the new leadership of James Lovell, the 1st XV had to pull itself together quickly.

Following a scrappy line-out on the right touch line, Surrey managed to secure the ball, went through a few phases and gradually shifted the ball towards the left. The ball reached Leon Hon-Sum Wei just inside the Brighton 22, and he drew the tackler in before offloading to left winger James Cattermole as the overlapping player. He then had a clear run into the corner to touch down.Having fallen behind, it wasn’t too long before Brighton reduced the arrears. Surrey were judged to have been offside, and the Brighton fly half dissected the posts to make it 5-3.

Before the 20 minute mark, Surrey scored their second try. It stemmed from an excellent tackle from James Lovell following a Brighton scrum, forcing the opposition into conceding a penalty. Fly half Matt Ody knocked the ball into touch, before Joseph Winstanley claimed the ball at the line-out. The Surrey forwards forced themselves over the Brighton line on the left hand side. Lock Guy Cologne-Brookes was at the bottom of the pile of bodies to touch the ball down. Having played in the back row of the pack last year, he made a good impression in the second row.Brighton were quick to reduce Surrey’s lead with the fly half slotting over another penalty. Surrey were penalised for crossing on the edge of their own 22.

What followed before half time was a strange passage of play that saw Adam Smith denied a try in one corner before scoring one on the opposite side. Following a scrum in the Brighton 22, Surrey went through the phases before the ball headed right. After the ball was initially spilled backwards Surrey recovered the ball and Smith, having joined the line in attack, thought he’d got the ball down in the corner on the right. However without a touch judge on that side of the pitch, the referee didn’t think he could award the try.

Despite the good start to the second half by Surrey, with the ball almost exclusively staying in the opposition’s half, it was Brighton to score the first points after the break. The hosts were penalised at the ruck, giving the visiting fly half another chance to score with a penalty, bringing Brighton within three points of Surrey.

With Surrey in danger of having the game wrestled from their grasp, they crossed for their fourth try to extend the lead again. More pressure in the Brighton half resulted in the ball coming towards the right touchline, before prop Leon Hon-Sum Wei burst through a couple of tackles and showed great pace to touchdown under the posts. Matt Ody added his first conversion of the afternoon.

Once again a successful Brighton penalty followed a Surrey try, reducing the hosts’ lead to seven.

The hosts continued to hold the territorial advantage in the second half, and they converted that into a fifth try following a line-out. Despite Brighton’s best attempts to stop the Surrey forwards, captain James Lovell touched down in amongst a mass of players in the left corner. Matt Ody followed the try with a fantastic touchline conversion.

As time ticked away, Brighton crossed for their first try with less than five minutes to go, as the winger touched down after William Li couldn’t make the interception coming out of the defensive line. The conversion was missed, all but securing the victory for Surrey, they still had to secure the ball in the last few minutes. Leon Hon-Sum Wei made the turnover in the last play of the game, allowing club chairman Dave Nolan to punt the ball into touch to seal victory for Surrey.