Saints' derby win keeps promotion hopes alive

Sussex 2 West
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St Francis 12 Crawley II 5

St Francis dug deep as they faced a strong and determined Crawley seconds in the Easter derby and succeeded with a hard-fought victory.

Locally Crawley maybe the bigger team - but St Francis stepped up and met them head on with what was an enthralling and well-matched display showing how much the Saints have come on as a team together this season.

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Saints started off with a shaky start but they soon settled their nerves and saw an incredibly well-taken try by Adie Perry to see them take the lead.

Later in the first half Buckley was the next to go over the line from a well- drilled maul from the ever physical forwards. With a conversion secured - despite the difficult kicking conditions - the Saints led by 12-0.

Crawley fought back hard in the second half but it seemed that their side had a number of quality individuals but weren’t gelling completely as a team which lead to mistakes that the Saints capitalised on.

Crawley eventually got over the line in the last ten minutes and the Saints had to dig deep and show their mettle to keep in the game.

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Once again their solid defence proved too much despite being reduced to 14 men. The game ended 12-5 but was a tough win against a respected side.

Saints now set their targets on Bognor next week before taking on Barns Green in two back-to-back games as they look to hold onto second place and play for promotion.

St Francis: Adie, Perry, Smith, Crawley, Devlin, McGahan, Norrie, Buckley, Hand, McShane, Bruce (Capt), Moose, Minnis, Short, Radoux Subs: Zefana, Matthews, Lace, Rhode-Knight

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