RUGBY: Crawley suffer last minute defeat

Crawley 16 Seaford 17
Crawley Rugby Club in action against SeafordCrawley Rugby Club in action against Seaford
Crawley Rugby Club in action against Seaford

Crawley suffered a second successive defeat following a last minute try.

Playing with the wind in the first half and really should have taken advantage of the conditions and play all the rugby in the visitors’ half.

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Alf Spurgeon put the home side ahead with a penalty after 20 minutes.

But some loose play and inexperience let the visitors off the hook and found them deep in the Crawley half. After a number of scrums and some good Crawley defence, the powerful Seaford pack finally crossed the line for a converted try.

This shook the home side into action, Harry Mansfield, who enjoyed another fine game, won the ball from the kick-off and Crawley were again on the attack. Luke Attew won an ensuing line-out and the ball was spread wide for Luke Wilson to score. Spurgeon missed the conversion and this left the game on a knife edge, 8-7 at half- time.

Crawley started the second half against the elements but continued their dominance, keeping the ball in hand and using their young back line to make territory down the flanks. First phase possession was key in the conditions and Attew was winning his fair share of line-out ball. He was ably supported by Props, Dean Riley and Ashley Eaton. Riley capped this off by diving over for his first try of the season to extend the home side lead after 50 minutes.

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But the wind was getting stronger and Seaford started to make best use of it. They were exerting more and more pressure on the home team and this led to a converted penalty after 55 minutes to take the score to 13-10. Spurgeon replied with another penalty, but the home side were increasingly pinned in their own half and the tension was mounting.

The turning point came when Joe Spurgeon was sin binned for slowing the ball down from a ruck five metres from his own line. Many neutrals thought this was harsh decision, Seaford elected to scrum to try and make use of the extra man.

However the home side defended manfully but could not prevent the visitors scoring virtually under the posts. The conversion was kicked and the final whistle was blown.

Crawley: Cockram, L Wilson, Salle, S Wilson, Lane-Miller, A Spurgeon, Keegan, Eaton, Blythman, Riley, Harding, Attew, Mansfield, Turner, J Spurgeon. Rouch, Westphal-Reed, Garry.

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