Skipper Dave Wattam is convinced his side can learn the harsh lessons of their losing start to life in the new-look London Two South.

Sussex's flag-bearers at this level spent the vast majority of Saturday's opener battering away at a Midwhitgiftians side more accustomed to life in division one.

But they were left counting the cost of two giveaway tries, four missed kicks from in front of the posts and a series of basic handling errors, including two with scores beckoning.

At least they can take revenge when Mids come south, thanks to the RFU's decision to belatedly drag their league system into the 20th Century and introduce home and away fixtures.

But Wattam, standing in as skipper for the injured Henry Goodburn, conceded: "We made as many mistakes today as we would make in a season.

"We lacked cohesion but that will come. We will come across a lot of teams in this league who stand across the pitch and defend and we will have to work out ways to get round them."

It was easy to feel some sympathy for scrum half Alex Meredith, who had a day he will try hard to forget.

As well as missing those simple kicks, he had a try disallowed and was involved in the interception which sent Stuart Higgins away for Mids' killer score.

There were question marks over their first try as well, with the midfield defence culpable at the start of a move which was rounded off in some style as Mids cleverly worked space for No.8 Mark MacCaskell to strike.

Dan Crouch, the burly home outside half, probably made Meredith feel even worse by thumping over four penalties, three of them from around 45 yards.

But Wattam insisted: "It's not just down to kicks. It's how we make the most of the good positions we get into."

At least Heath can take heart from the fact that they played by far the more entertaining rugby.

Wattam took the fight to the hosts with some surging breaks from the back of the scrum and Jon Graham was a constant threat at outside half.

Set pieces worked well and Nick Dinsdale and Dave Atkin were effective at lineouts, though both locks also dropped what looked certain scoring passes as the near misses piled up.

Graham gave his side a short-lived lead just before the break, popping up in support of a typical Wattam drive.

Chances were squandered either side of that score and at one stage Heath were an improbable 15 points adrift.

Giles Goodburn and, right on full-time, John Skoulding got over to give the scoreline a slightly more realistic look.

But Heath will know this was a game they threw away.

Heath scorers: Graham 1T (39) 1C (80), Goodburn 1T (66), Skoulding 1T (80), Meredith 1C (39).

OMW scorers: MacCaskell 1T (30), Higgins 1T (58), Crouch 4PG (40, 42, 56, 64).

Sequence: 5-0, 5-7, 8-7 (HT), 11-7, 14-7, 19-7, 22-7, 22-12, 22-19.