Worthing have taken a massive step towards retaining their Sussex Trophy by beating Haywards Heath.

But Sussex rugby has surely missed out on its game of the season after the county's top teams were drawn together in the quarterfinals.

Worthing ran away with Sunday's tie at Roundstone Lane in the last 20 minutes, turning an 11-10 deficit into a 34-11 win after Heath had Owen Ashton sin-binned while conceding a penalty try for a high tackle.

Although they were able to make changes in the pack, six of the Heath backs had played the previous afternoon at Richmond in the league.

And that helped devalue what should have been a classic cup battle.

Mike Imrie, Worthing's experienced scrum half, said: "Haywards Heath were our equals for 60 minutes but we pulled it around and scored some good tries.

"We have some sympathy for Heath and in some ways it was a shame to play them in the quarters-finals. "But there are arguments either way for whether the draw should be seeded and I'm sitting on the fence on that one."

Sussex have resisted any temptation to seed Worthing and Heath, easily the two best teams in the county, in opposite halves of the draw.

That means they run the risk of a mis-match at the final, a showpiece event which always draws a big crowd.

Imrie, though, is unwilling to describe the knockout as a two-way battle.

He said; "We can't take anything for granted given our inconsistency this season.

"If we get Bognor away in the semis, for example, that's a tough place to go."

Though the county have done a good job introducing knockout events at intermediate and junior level, league rugby is now the main focus and this was reflected in team selections for all three Trophy ties played at the weekend.

Jamie Redmayne's try and two Dan Morath penalties put Heath 11-10 up.

Simon Alcott (two), Ben Coulson and Gareth Richards got over for Worthing to go with the pivotal penalty try.

Lewes and Bognor also go into tonight's semi-final draw but the Crawley versus Hastings tie was postponed.

Hove were below strength at home to Bognor and crashed 71-

18 to a team one division above them.

Bognor captain Nigel Mitchell admitted: "When we heard after the game they did not have their strongest side out, it was a bit disappointing.

"We ran away with it in the second half. Hopefully we stay away from Worthing now in the semis."

Billy Toon (3), George Castleton (2) and Dave Sweeney (2) led the way as Bognor scored 13 tries. Mark Gordon, Rob Parry, Lee Balchin, Tom Merritt, Tim Stickland and skipper Mitchell also went over. Parry kicked three conversions.

Lewes took a calculated gamble with their selection and it paid off as the London Two hosts beat Sussex One visitors Uckfield 39-7.

Locks Chris Gorbell and Terry Jordan and skipper Dave Hemsley were eased back into action after long-term injuries while props Steve Petch and Dean Riley were handed first team debuts.

Lewes had an early shock when, after going ahead through a Neil Rumble try, they saw Jack Whitmarsh pounce on turnover ball and Phil Dowse convert to give Uckfield a 7-5 lead.

New Zealander Jamie Gray rounded off a fine move to open a 10-7 home lead at the break.

Second-half tries followed from Sean Taylor (2), Chris Brant, Mark Barnard and Lee Raikes. Nick Sharp and Dave Tyrrell added one conversion apiece.