Hove: 65

Sevenoaks: 13

SEVENOAKS captain Tim Golds described Saturday's defeat at Hove as simply horrendous.

After getting their season off to a flying start last week, Oaks went down to the coast in buoyant mood. Eighty minutes later they were hanging their heads in shame on the back of a 65-13 defeat.

"We were let down by our scrummage going backwards and by our woeful tackling," Golds said. "Without these two things you cannot win a game of rugby. It was just horrible. Every time they seemed to attack the tackling just let them through.

" It was easy try, after easy try and heads went down."

Golds added: "Only in the last 10 minutes did we play to a realistic level of rugby.

"I said to the guys afterwards, if we want to compete in this league then we have to play 80 minutes like the last 10. We have to be putting our bodies on the line and be more physical.

"We were simply outclassed for 70 minutes. They were a better team than us for sure – but our attitude was poor."

The game was scrappy in the early stages, but soon settled down to become what turned out to be a fully enjoyable game of rugby – if you were a Hove supporter anyway. Sevenoaks held parity for the first quarter and only trailed 10-6, Adam Suttill kicking two penalties.

For the hosts Sebastian Eubank scored a try, duly converted by Ben Coulson.

Hove stepped up a gear as the half progressed and ran in no less than four tries to lead 36-6.

Ryan Morlen (2), Christopher Eden and Liam John Hale all went over.

After the break it was more of the same as Oaks just could not cope with the pressure Hove were exerting.

The hosts ran in five more tries, with Morlen completing his hat-trick late on.

Sevenoaks, to give them their credit, didn't surrender completely and Matt Dodd, on debut, scored a deserved try in the latter part of the second half, which they converted.

Golds pointed to the performances of Matt Bates and the outstanding Ian Collins as the high-points in an otherwise abject team display.

This week Oaks face big spending and high-flying Tonbridge Juddians at Knole Paddock.

"It's going to be a tough game," Golds admitted.

"It's a local derby and we need to get ourselves back into it after this performance.

"It's still early in the season, so there is no reason to let heads drop just yet. We just need to focus on the next game."