Head Coach Ross Waddington has announced his team to play Lewes in a pre-season friendly. Lewes have been promoted into Championship 2 South-East and will be looking forward to testing out their team ahead of their new league campaign. Hove, who finished third in Championship 1 last year will prove a stern test for their Sussex rivals. The Hove team holds most of its core from last year, welcoming back Alice Turnbull from injury and Harriet Dunn from university. Emily Swales makes her Hove debut on the wing.

Waddington had this to say about the game. "We're excited to entertain Lewes and see the results of our pre-season work. We've got a great opportunity to test out some newer players as well as see some of our existing players in different positions. It's great to see Lewes doing so well at the moment and we're hoping for a good day of rugby."

Equally exciting for both clubs is that they will each have a 2nd team featuring in the 10s Tournament also to be held at Hove on the same day. This is definitely the first time that Hove have had two squads out at the same time and I believe the same is true for Lewes. Both clubs have held successful Inner Warrior events with Lewes getting around 60 participants and Hove coming in slightly behind with around 55. The game in Sussex continues to grow with a number of new teams in the county this year.

The 2nd XV round robin with Lewes 2nd and Burgess Hill Black Widows kicks off at 1:30pm and the 1st XV vs Lewes kicks off at 3pm at the Rec - everyone welcome to come down and watch!

Hove Squad

1. Harriet Dunn
2. Lucy Simpson
3. Karin Orford-Kemmish
4. Sam Gottardi
5. Becca Moreton
6. Jordan Hopkins
7. Hannah Sharman
8. Becky Piddleston

9. Polly Roberts
10. Claire Slater
11. Emily Swales
12. Alice Turnbull
13. Katy Doughty-Curtis
14. Holly Hearle
15. Hayley Templeman

16. Lucy Callingham
17. Becky Salmon