first opponents of 2026

The Southend Sea Lions faced their first opponents of 2026, The Brighton and Hove Sea Serpents

In front of around 100 spectators, which included several injured Sea Lions Steve, Andrew and Louis the game kicked off and a powerful attack from the visitors saw Dan knocked out of the way as the Serpent went on the rampage, but the Sea Lions defence kept them out with alat ditch clearance to touch.

New player Adelin, took to the field in his first every game of rugby and whilst his first touch wasn’t the best he reset and threw himself into the contest seeing him carry the ball several times and beating a defender or two. David also, won his first cap and managed to tackle every Sea Serpent who dared to attack his wing and he was very unlucky on a few occasions not to get points on the board as the incoming pass was just out of reach.

Th Sea Lines were getting into their stride and our training started paying off : the scrum worked wonders as the pack dug in with Aaron winning three strikes against the head, the first of which resulted in the Teams first try after Dan picked up at 8 and drove over the line for the first point of the day. The Serpents hit back quickly with a long kick through which stopped perfectly in our goal area and they beat us to the touch down, both Teams were neck and neck.

Playing out of position James, defended well and made numerous attacks from deep to keep the ball alive and get back into the game, one of which saw the team carry the ball into the Serpents 22 and after a quick ruck saw Rich crossed the line to give us the lead. This try was quickly followed by another attacking play that saw the Sea Lions score two further tries by Caz and Nic in quick succession.

The match continued with both teams attacking at will but after a stray kick ended in up Dans hand’s he broke the gain line to give Terry a 30m run in to score his first try for the Team, we were starting to find our mojo.

Despite conceding points The Serpent were undeterred and fought hard time and time again we saw them fast approaching our try line but great defence and esp two cracking tackles by Callum and Terry thwarted their efforts and the ball was turned over and kicked to touch. The Sea Lions line was working well with Matt soaring like an eagle in the line out winning a lot of possession for the team.

As we entered the last 20 min father and son combo Paul and Fred Shearing took to the pitch for their first ever game together, with Paul dropping in at tight head. The Seal Lions pushed hard and got themselves in front of the Serpent posts and the ball was spun wide to the ever youthful Paul Shearing who crash over for an excellent try, from what he said was 40m out, but under Veo review was actually 2m.

The match finished seeing the Sea Lions win 51-5 but most importantly the match was played fun and there were no injuries reported as the squads headed to the bar and food provided by the lovely Jane and then into the evening!

Every Sea Lions gave their all but forward of the match went to Trevor who gave everything in both defence and attack which saw him run 25m down the touch line only to be bundled into touch at the corner, denying him a first try ! and back of the match was Richard whose calmness and control were a constant throughout the day, putting our players into space and defending well.

The Sea Serpents were a fantastic and fun Team to play, and we look forward to travelling to Brighton sometime soon for the away fixture.