Heathfield and Waldron chose the perfect time to produce their best rugby of the season.

They scored three first-half tries on their way to a convincing 23-7 defeat of Burgess Hill in the Sussex Intermediate Shield final at Crawley.

Hill grabbed an early interception try but scores from Simon Wilson, Sam Thewlis and Seb Jones helped Heath get all their points by the break.

Bryn Jones landed a touchline conversion and two penalties.

Burgess Hill competed well after the break but Heath director of rugby Mark Hassell said: "The first 40 minutes was our best half of rugby this season.

"One of the comments I heard was that we produced a standard of play two levels above our league status."

Haywards Heath A beat Heathfield II 26-20 in a well-contested Sussex Vase final.

Worthing and Haywards Heath are set for two highstakes encounters after reaching the final of the Sussex Trophy.

Holders and favourites Worthing won 38-12 at Eastbourne and Heath had a dramatic 30-22 success away to Lewes in the semis.

But thoughts of their final, at Horsham on April 22, will be pushed firmly to back of minds by the forthcoming League One derby at Whitemans Green which has massive significance for both teams.

Heath have given themselves a chance of escaping relegation by thrashing Barnes 53-5 in a rearranged fixture on Saturday.

They need to repeat that against Worthing, who need both points to keep their promotion hopes alive.

Heath's much-needed league win takes them out of the drop zone on points difference.

But it looks like two from Heath, Staines and Portsmouth to join rock bottom Guildford and avoid the drop.

Dan Penney, Nick Miller and Sam Humphrey-Baker scored first-half tries as Heath led 22-5.

They added five tries in a 15- minute second-half spell scored by Will Murrills, Nick Miller, Jo Govett twice and Jon Salisbury.

Penney kicked five conversions and a penalty for an 18-point haul.

Skipper Dave Wattam said: "Some team was going to take a hiding at some stage. It just took so long for it to happen."

Heath dug deep for their Trophy win after trailing 22-20 at Lewes going into the closing stages.

Adam Phillips produced an extraordinary long-range finish for his second try of the game to put Heath ahead.

Wattam scored right at the end, but he admitted: "We were panicking a little bit."

Vince Rolandi also got over for Heath but Lewes gave them problems with their forward strength.