Sussex admit they are venturing into the unknown in their bid to get to Twickenham.

Skipper Gordon Denslow and his men got their Powergen County Shield season off to a winning start with a home 16-15 success over Hertfordshire which was more convincing than the one-point margin suggests.

But it was events elsewhere in the southern qualifying group which left them wondering quite what they are up against in their two remaining pool games.

Berkshire, who Sussex meet at Bracknell next Saturday, were thumped 50-13 by Middlesex, who subsequently lead the four-team section, the winners of which go to a Twickenham final.

Sussex coach Ian Davies was not overly impressed with his own team's display but sounded amazed by the other result.

He said: "That just shows in this competition you never know what you're up against or who is going to be available.

"Middlesex were supposed to be the weaker team."

Sussex have based their team on players from Haywards Heath and Worthing, though that was not necessarily the intention.

Feelers have been put out throughout the winter to bring in players of Sussex origin now playing at a higher level outside the county. One of them, Henley flanker Adam Holloway, could be in action next Saturday.

Davies added: "We need players from a higher level, people like Adam.

"I thought we did our best to give Hertfordshire the win and they didn't seem to want to take it.

"If we had won by a 20-point margin they wouldn't have had many complaints because there was only one side playing the football.

"There was a lot of lethargy out there though and not as much intensity as you would expect from either side.

"We'll get on the training ground on Wednesday and hopefully that helps us out."

The scoreline was massaged from a Herts point of view by a converted try on the final whistle after James Mackie's cross-kick had been picked off.

A previous cross kick from Mackie had given Ben Coulson the chance to score a try to go with his two penalties. Chichester scrum half Simon Bradford also got over with a tremendous solo break.

Worthing centre Jamie Stewart-McDonald comes into contention for the trip to Bracknell, which is now a must-win game for Sussex.