On Wednesday 5th November, Kingston University Men's 1st rugby team faced a redoubtable Brighton University side and after a hard-fought 80 minutes lost 16-27.

This was only Kingston's first league and second competitive game of the season, after forfeiting their first three matches because of a disciplinary ban. For the visitors, this was an enjoyable third win in a row out of an overall of four games and it was perhaps this experience that made the difference on the pitch.

The Brighton captain, a 27 year-old ex-PE teacher, said: ”It was a hard game on everyone and we'll all be nursing bruises tomorrow. [...] Despite missing four or five important players through injury we were solid and stuck together. It was a good display and I'm very pleased with the result!”

Kingston started the game strongly and was the first to score after only ten minutes of play. The try was logical due to a clear Kingston dominance and rewarded the hard work of the forwards putting unrelenting pressure on the Brighton scrum. After this, the game became entrenched and for the next 30 minutes play was encamped on the no-man's-land in the middle of the pitch. The 30 or so spectators witnessed a gritty fight in which crunching tackles and sweat were the used currency.

At half time Kingston were leading 10-8 but shortly after play resumed, a tightly structured offensive down Kingston's right wing paid dividends. The Brighton forwards turned the scrum and nº8 skipped behind the defence to score. This was followed by a tidy transformation.

The home response came 10 minutes later when Kingston's captain, Lloyd Preston-Allen, converted a penalty from 30 yards out. Immediately, Brighton attacked yet again down their left wing. nº20 made an impressive zig-zagging run from the halfway mark, in which he evaded five defenders to score right between the posts.

This marked the beginning of the end for Kingston’s “Cheeky Boys” and during the last 20 minutes of play, two Brighton tries were enough to wipe the smiles off their faces. Kingston reduced the gap scoring a try with five minutes to go. However, the game was sealed in a dramatical coup-de-grace when Brighton's nº11 scored a stunning drop-kick goal on the whistle, which was enough to silence the home crowd.

After the game, Preston-Allen commented on his team's performance: “We lacked in continuity. [...] This match was hard and we didn't take our chances when we should have done.[...] We played all the rugby today and I believe we were the better team.” The second year architecture student went on to say: “There were a lot of negatives but also a lot of positives. We missed valuable training time due to the ban and if we want to do something this season we must make up for it.”

On these words the Kingston Coach called his players together and made them run a lap round the pitch.