Last season it was the south coast side who came out top - a brutal, bullying performance that shook Heath's then more aristocratic style. But this is a new Heath side that goes about it's business with a steely resolve, unfazed by war cries and chest beating, preferring to just punish sides who fail to match their total forward dominance in this league.

That this Heath side only contributes two players in Ure and Johnson to Sussex is a tragedy for the County set up. Filskow, Erritt, Harris have been peerless so far this season and Ward and Clarke aren't far off the mark.

Brighton came well-equipped for the conditions - big physical forwards and a strong running backline and to their credit, they are a decent side who put together a decent performance. Homegrown, like Heath, well-drilled and thoughtful with the ball in hand, Brighton's back-row tackled hard and they did their best to disrupt Heath's early surges.

Both sides shared good early possession but it was Brighton who transgressed too often at the ruck and Heath took advantage of the penalty count to hold territory long enough for Erritt, Best and Johnson to make half breaks and for Crocker, looking increasingly comfortable at inside centre, to shrug off attention from his markers and crashed over near to the posts. Clarke made it 7-nil.

Both sides were now in the game and Brighton used field position well to launch their attacks close to the scrum. But Heath's loose forwards were too good, Jackson handing out punishing hits and Filskow and Erritt were there every time to slow it down or steal it. When Heath did turn ball over it was through the efforts of Man of the Match White and Ward, like a pair of territorial bullocks, who drove hard and low into brighton's defence, with Francis, Harris and Donovan supplying clean ball to the half backs.

With territory regained, Heath took advantage of Brighton's slow retreating defence from a penalty tap and Filskow's perfect timing onto Johnson's offload allowed him to glide through for Heath's second.

Successive penalties after the restart gave Brighton some more territory but centres Crocker and Clarke shut anything down that tried to come through the middle. Another mazy run from Johnson set his backs off again with Clarke breezing through gaps and Eagles, Tuvey and Edwards providing the support lines out wide. At times, the quality was remarkable but too often Heath came off their feet or came offside and lost ground once more.

Ure entered from the bench shortly before the half ended and Clarke limped off with ankle trouble. Before Heath had time to organise, Brighton found a hole in midfield and scored out wide to bring the scores to 14 -5.

From the restart George Johnson tracked across the pitch before being held, but illegally, and from the penalty, Heath combined well, again Erritt providing the offload back to Johnson who scampered into the corner for an unconverted try.

With the slope and wind to the good, Heath could now bring in a kicking game with Best, looking poised and in control at 10, providing territory and a strong platform for Johnson to show why he's Sussex's best 9. His sniping darts kept Heath moving forward and 3 phases later Johnson popped up again to feed Gedrych who purred over from wide for 5 more. Beautiful rugby disguised the brutality of the driving and clear outs from Heath's Titan front five.

Then a moment of shear class that ripped the heart out of Brighton's last hopes. From the kick off, Field caught and fed Johnson who rounded the charging forwards from Brighton, stepped the winger and blew away brighton's full back with an in and out step and a blast from the turbo to score under the posts. Individually, a try to treasure for the hard working, class act.

With 29 points on the board Heath looked comfortable Heath and paid the price with a soft but well taken try by Brighton's impressive openside.

In past years Heath would have panicked and lost their shape, but such is the quality of the rugby that order was restored through powerful, driving rugby, Ure and Field now supplying the ballast to blast away any insurgents daring to challenge for ball and were soon rewarded when White picked from two yards out and barrelled over. Soon after some great interplay between forwards and backs led to Erritt breaking free. Although he got over the line he was held, but Harris pounced on the lose ball for 7 more points.

So a very strong performance from Heath all round. Few weaknesses to concern themselves over next few fixtures but complacency could be the only real opposition to a place in the Finals. Most pleasing to see is the composure. So things don't always go to plan, but level heads, back to basics tactics and the engine starts to purr again. The backs are more assured and capable of striking from anywhere on the pitch, and can defend with strong hits and turnovers.