Hove admitted they were delighted to tackle the leaders on a pitch made barely playable by heavy rain.

But their hopes of causing an upset turned to dust as Betteshanger maintained their perfect record in London Four South East with a home win last Saturday.

The Kent side led 12-0 at the break in near farcical conditions.

They then struck the hammer blow of a try against the wind to round off a 17-0 win.

Hove skipper John Oades said: "There was a late pitch inspection, but we wanted to play having travelled up there and we thought conditions would be a leveller.

"We played into the gale in the first half and did quite well.

"We have been working on our rucking for the last couple of weeks and I was pleased with how it went.

"Turning round at 12-0 down I thought it was in the bag but it didn't turn out like that.

"We were in their 22 for a long time but their forwards wore us down and we couldn't get over the line."

In the end, the bad weather probably cost Hove two tries.

Their lineouts were ruined by the wind and both first half scores came after the ball had been blown back behind their forwards, allowing Betteshanger to drive through.