Crawley win rugby's Sussex Shield for first time

They managed to squeeze in the final against EG just days before the season came to a premature end as the country went on lockdown over coronavirus.

Crawley had needed to overcome Lewes and Eastbourne to reach the final, beating Lewes 35-15 in the quarter-finals and Eastbourne 31-15 in the semi-final.

EG went straight through to the final without playing a game as both Hove and Haywards Heath handed them walkovers!

EG won the toss and decided to kick off into a light breeze. Crawley worked their way up the pitch and controlled possession. A free kick was awarded to Crawley for a scrum infringement 15m from the EG try line. Crawley scrum-half Dom Morgan took the quick tap and sidestepped a few EG forwards on his way to the try line. Converted by Kris Dean, 7-0.

EG replied with some excellent tactical kicking. They showed they were not simply there to make up numbers. They put a few phases of their own together, and with their big forwards difficult to stop, crashed over for their first try, 7-7.

Crawley decided by keeping the ball, they could avoid tackling EG’s bigger runners. But Crawley also attacked with confidence. This paid off as an overlap was created and the ball was transferred through hands and winger Mike Cook scored their second try.

Moments later Crawley were in again. Ollie Hall, in the back row, set up winger Dilip Thayagaraja for his first try of the final, 19-7.

EG dominated the final 10 minutes of the first half. What came next was possibly the try of the game. A crossfield kick from EG fly-half Ollie Adam went to right winger Jake Radcliffe, who climbed superbly, pirouetted and scored in the corner.

With EG on the attack again, Aaron Boczek, playing openside for Crawley, was on the wrong side of the ruck. Referee Ben McNamara deciding this was an infringement worthy of more than just a penalty. Boczek was issued the first yellow card. EG took the pointsto make the interval score 19-15 to Crawley.

The second half was all EG’s, well… nearly. Crawley were awarded an early penalty 40m out. Fly-half Kris Dean struck it with precision, and it went straight between the uprights, 22-15.

EG were gathering some pace and they scored another try, 22-20. Crawley got back to a full XV but with EG pressure came ill discipline from Crawley, who had two players yellow carded – Kieran Gosling for tripping a player then Fraser Thompson for a mistimed tackle.

With Crawley down to 13, EG sniffed a chance. They scored wide and took a 27-22 lead.

Dean’s long-range penalty kept Crawley in touch, 27-25. Crawley were handed another yellow card. Replacement hooker Alex Nabar hadn’t been on the pitch long when EG scrum-half Lukis Waite throw the ball at him. The ref decided this worthy of the yellow card.

EG left wing Ben Beard scored in the corner, 34-25. Crawley required two scores with not long to play.

Crawley had 15 players back on the pitch but only five minutes left. Dean broke tackles up the middle and passed to replacement centre Dean Garry. He offloaded to speedster Dilip Thayagarja who raced off to score, 30-34.

Soon Dean stepped up for another break down the middle. He drew in the EG full-back, andpopped a well-timed pass to Thayagaraja, who finished in style with a swan dive that will be talked about by generations of Crawley players to come. Dean converted for a 37-34 lead which Crawley held on to and lifted the shield for the first time in the club’s history.

Stand-out players included Ollie Hall and Thagaraja but Dean was the real star with 12 points and a never-say-die attitude.

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