WESTCLIFF kicked off the new National Three London & SE season with a 29-10 defeat against East Grinstead.

Westcliff had the Rugby World Cup trophy at their Gables base on Saturday but it was unable to inspire them to victory as their highly rated opponents came out on top.

And first team manager Rick Compton was disappointed by how easily East Grinstead scored their points.

“The performance was not without promise but we gifted them too many points which was disappointing,” said Compton.

“As ever the effort and commitment was spot on but we will be now be focusing on where that application let us down before our next game which is a tough visit to Westcombe Park.”

Westcliff went behind after just 12 minutes at the weekend when East Grinstead kicked a penalty before the hosts suffered a further blow on the half hour mark when Kostas Dellas was yellow carded.

The resulting penalty was kicked to touch and provided a platform for Grinstead to drive forward for the game’s first try.

The subsequent conversion made it 10-0 before the visiting scrum half also dashed through to increase his side’s advantage at the break.

At the start of the second half, Westcliff got off the mark with a penalty from Chris Dudman but a charged down kick soon resulted in Grinstead scoring another try which put them 22-3 in front.

After that, the final quarter continued to ebb and flow with the home side able to sustain attacks which eventually led to Rupert Edwards touching down to score a try Jack Jones converted.

But, deep into injury time, the visitors replied with another try to secure a bonus point and a hard fought 29-10 win.

Westcliff: Dudman, Boughtwood, B Reynolds, O’Brien, Merrick, Jones, Parmenter, Meakin, Morrant, Roberts, Edwards, Anderson-Brown, Dellas, Meredith, S Reynolds Replacements: A Whiting, R Whiting & Marsh