St George's wake up too late

St George's from Harpenden are still wondering what might have been aftertheir magnificent fightback at Brighton College fell short at 33-24 andended their best run in the competition in the last 16.

"If we hadn't left our minds in the dressing room, we would have done muchbetter,' admitted coach Andy McPherson.

They were steamrollered early on by in-form Brighton ,who are unbeaten ineight games. Giles Stubbs settled any Brighton nerves with two earlypenalties.

Fly half Sam Howse scored the first try after a quick tappenalty and centre Stubbs claimed a second himself. He also had a hand inthe third, dislodging the ball in a tackle which allowed prop Adam Friel topick up and score.

Fly half Andy Saul finally put some points on the board for St George'sbut Seb Akillian claimed No 4 for Brighton before Alan Barton's try cut thedeficit to 26-10 at half time.

Brighton shocked them again when right wingHabib Esmaeli was put away and Stubbs converted to make it 33-10. Ten thefightback began when Saul converted his own try and then added the pointsto a last-minute penalty try. But it was too little, too late.