Haywards Heath's first ever London One clash ended with a win, but only after a late scare.

Heath survived a penalty miss from Gareth Redman and defended on their own line in the final moments before clinching a 29-26 home success over Thanet Wanderers.

Tries from Mark Pymm and Andrew Cook just before half-time, plus the right boot of Owen Ashton saw them through.

Ashton kicked two conversions plus five penalty from six attempts. But he misses next Saturday's National Cup trip to Blackheath as do full back Cook and prop Russ Sheppard.

Skipper Henry Goodburn was delighted to open the league campaign with two points but admitted: "Thanet looked a better side than when we beat them in the cup last week.

"They had obviously done their homework. They spent a lot of the game driving around the fringes and we had trouble defending against that.

"When we started to open the game out we dominated, but we did not take all our chances."

Back row man Glenn Rankin, Dave Cook and Tom Hills all earned high marks for the hosts.

Heath's second team scored a 30-10 over Worthing in a key Sussex Merit Table clash.

Brighton went down 20-8 to Ruislip in a club match. Skipper Mark Jenkins scored a try and Geraint Jones dropped a goal.

Worthing had an 18-5 win over Cobham.

Lewes lost 14-17 at Bognor, despite opening the scoring with a try by flanker Nick Giles converted by David Tyrrell.

Darren Brown and Tom Spurle and Ian Myhill put Bognor in charge with touchdowns, Stuart Brown coverting, before Lewes player- coach Paul Taylor, dummied the whole defence to score under the posts. Tyrrell converted.

East Grinstead beat Dorking 41-24 with tries from Ray Hennessey (two), Dan Moore, Colin Blake, Jim Trantham, Tim Lucas and Alex Ingham. Rick Lake kicked two conversions and Hennessey added another.

South African Raynn Bruce capped a fine performance on his debut with a try in Worthing's 13-5 victory over Cobham. Tony Cruz kicked two penalties and a conversion.