East Grinstead 12 Warlingham 15

Warlingham kicked off the season with a deserved win over a well-drilled East Grinstead side.

Scrum half Ollie Doe and fly half Alex Glover, in his first match as captain, were able to stretch the home side on the wide pitch early on, but some wayward kicking gave East Grinstead possession in open territory and, following poor tackling, they took the lead with a converted try.

Warlingham's pack regained the initiative and gave Glover the opportunity to score an unconverted try with an enterprising kick and chase.

On the stroke of half-time a well worked move by the Warlingham backs saw Andy Marshall, another new face at centre, feed Glover another try-scoring pass. Marshall duly added the conversion.

In the second-half, the Warlingham pack continued to press the home side with Dan Street making a number of rhino-style solo breaks to gain precious yards.

Teenager Dom Lespierre, the former England under-18 winger, showed well and was deprived of a certain try by a vicious high tackle which resulted in the home side player being shown a yellow card.

East Grinstead only got back into the game with a consolation late try, which made the scoreline look much closer than the match really was.