London and South East Division Junior Vase, Fifth Round

Chipstead 13

Uckfield 39

A SHIRT mix-up put Chipstead on the backfoot as they crashed out of the Junior Vase in the regional quarter-finals, the same stage as last year.

Uckfield left the Chips stunned as they raced to victory, but the Surrey side will feel a kit mix-up, that saw them having to turn their royal blue and yellow ringed shirts inside out so not to clash with the oppositions purple and yellow ringed kit, left the players confused.

Director of Rugby Carl Powley was unhappy with the result, but admits he felt his side were deliberating passing to the opposition, mistaking them for Chips players.

"We just gave the ball away to the opposition too often. I don't know whether it was conceding the shirt colours, but we weren't on form, we were pushed back in the scrums, where normally we are very strong," he said. "The shirts were a major problem. Psychologically, you're losing straight away because you lose your own identity. It was an issue that was discussed midweek, but obviously we can't go and buy a second set of shirts.

"Personally I think the shirts should have been kept the same and there was enough of a colour difference, especially on the back of the shirts, but the referee thought otherwise. That put us on the back foot straight away; we lost our identity and threw the ball away."

Uckfield, who are third in the Sussex Spitfire One, the equivalent to Surrey One Chips, were good value for their win, but Powley admits they weren't pre-match favourites.

"We are all very disappointed. I think Uckfield came here expecting a loss, and they played up to it and we didn't; we played down. They played up," he said.

"The problem was we threw the ball to them. I counted for three of their tries we threw the ball to them and not just in the tries, but even in open play as well.

"The referee was inconsistent and we aren't used to coming back from higher scoring points, so that is a lesson for us to learn. At one point, we were 10 points down and that was an advantage that we easily could have overcome, but the boys didn't react to the pressure very well and Uckfield wanted the win."

Powley felt Richard Cannon gave a captain's performance; leading by example, but admits some of the team let themselves down.

"Our second row, Alex Cannon worked the game well and ran his heart out for us today," Powley said.

"Our captain Richard [Cannon], made some superb breaks. If the whole team reacted the way he did to being 10 points down, maybe we wouldn't be in the situation we are now. That is probably a little harsh, but for some players it is probably true."