Worthing Raiders are facing two make-or-break matches in their bid to stay up, despite a big win at Havant.

Raiders beat the relegated Hampshire club 55-27 at Hooks Lane but then heard results elsewhere had been unhelpful.

They are now four points clear of Bridgwater, who occupy the second relegation place, ahead of the visit of newly crowned champions London Scottish to Roundstone Lane on Saturday. Bridgwater lost 41-12 at Lydney while Chinnor had a good 20-10 win at Rugby.

Worthing skipper Jody Levett said: “If we beat Lydney at home a week on Saturday it would help us no end.

“It would be nice to then go to Bridgwater in a positive position.”

Levett rated some of his side’s first-half rugby at Havant as their best in recent weeks.

He said: “We were desperate to go there and make sure we won first of all, then think about the bonus point.

“I was really pleased with the first half but we have never been a side who really punish teams when we get ahead.”

Ben Coulson helped himself to 20 points with a try, six conversions and a penalty. Matt McLean (2), Joe Marler, Charlie McGowan, Joe Govett, Ben Dudley and Sean Bennett also touched down for Worthing, who led 36-10 at the break.

Haywards Heath’s plight in their somewhat complicated relegation battle worsened, despite a battling display at home to Barnes in London One.

A 29-23 defeat ensured Heath will finish bottom and must hope two wooden-spoon sides in the three equivalent divisions elsewhere in the country have worse records.

The bad news is that both Darlington, in North One, and Bedford Athletic, in Midlands One, had wins to join Heath on six points.

Heath, though, have a significantly better points difference than both those sides.

Pat Shanahan, Dan Penney, Lee Evans and Matt Jarrett grabbed tries against Barnes, whose scorers included Jim Brownrigg, the former Bristol and Cardiff back row from Chichester.

Brighton still have plenty to play for, despite wrapping up the Sussex One title with three games to spare.

A 75-5 home win over Crawley put the unbeaten Blues out of reach.

They tackle Uckfield in the Sussex Shield final this Saturday and are also building up to the EDF Junior Vase showdown with Liskeard-Looe at Twickenham.

The Sussex One crown has seemed destined for Waterhall since the early weeks of the season but player/coach Neil McGovern admitted: “It doesn’t feel that way when you are involved. It was a really good day at the club and nice to do it with a bit of style.”

Alex Finch led the latest scoring spree with three of his side’s 11 tries and ten conversions for 35 points in all. Ash Hallett added a hat-trick and there were also tries for Nick Buoy, Richie Burns, Nik Hannay, Lloyd Jenkins and Simon Swadling.