Alex Meredith could be out of the County Shield after being sent-off in club action.

The Haywards Heath scrum half was shown yellow, then red in Saturday's 55-17 defeat by Tabard. Meredith was unhappy about being sin-binned for illegal use of the boot and yellow became red when he continued his complaints.

Heath coach Ian Davies, who is also in charge of the Sussex team, fears Meredith will be banned for county action.

He said: "Dissent is frowned upon. The red card will probably rule him out of the County Shield."

John Lake is struggling to be fit for Sussex action after suffering a knee injury in the same match.

There will be further impact on the county team if Worthing miss out on the London One title.

The last county squad session has been arranged for two weeks' time, just after the regular league season has ended.

Worthing's players will not be expected to take part if their season has been prolonged until April 30 by a promotion play-off.

Sussex would also be without Worthing players for their final pre-Shield warm-up, against the Sussex President's XV.

Meanwhile Hove and Chichester remain on standby for a play-off to claim the county's last place in the Powergen Cup should Worthing go up.

Bognor have been told to improve their fitness if they intend to challenge for promotion next season.

They conceded ten unanswered second-half points to go down 16-13 to Sevenoaks in London Three South East.

Skipper Nigel Mitchell said: "Our lack of fitness told again.

"Our aim must be to get ten or 20 per cent fitter for next season.

"When you get tired you stop thinking and we have given away a lot of tries and stupid penalties late in games."

Tom Spurle and Karl Flynn scored tries with Rob Parry landing a penalty to give Bognor their 13-6 half-time lead.

Chichester had a 36-7 home win over Gravesend while Brighton scored an impressive 27-24 success at Aylesford Bulls.

Brighton raced into a 17-3 lead when Adrian Murray, James Wall and James Williams scored tries and Mark Gibb landed a conversion. Gibb added a penalty as Brighton edged the first half 20-17 and a further try followed from Williams after the break that Gibb converted.