For those of you who have been following the fortunes of the teams competing in the Southern England Region you will have noticed that the last round saw two of the behemoths of the league go head to head when Sussex hosted Southampton.  The Swans were keen to make up for last year's defeat at the hands of Bournemouth in the inaugural Grand Final, while the Titans were focussing on maintaining their excellent start to the season. 

There was also the intriguing battle at the top of the goal kicking charts, where Scott Rymer was sitting pretty after four good rounds in front of the sticks.  All in all it boded for a passionate and hard-fought match. 

The game itself didn't disappoint, with both sides pushing for the victory which would give them the early season edge over their rivals.  A fantastic first quarter by the Swans opened up a sizable lead, with them kicking 7.3 against the Titans relatively tame 2.1.  The Titans however rebounded for the second quarter and whilst the Swans went into half time with a substantial lead it was all still to play for.

The second half however showed that the Swans had certainly learnt a lot from their previous encounters, and a deluge of goals followed that any team would be proud of.  Southampton fought bravely, but after the dust had settled it was their Sussex counterparts who were claiming bragging rights, 24.12 (156) to 11.15 (81).

This massive result leaves Sussex at the top of the table going into Round 6, although a bye weekend could see them slip into second again should Southampton put a huge score on the board against Chippenham, who themselves picked up their first points of the season with a superb victory over an experienced Brighton team, kicking 13.22 (100) against 3.5 (23).  Brighton will be hoping to kick start their season against Bournemouth who spent the weekend resting up themselves, although with Photopolous, Brailey and Kerr all towards the top of the goalscoring charts this is a big, big ask of the Swans.

After Round 5 Sussex appear to have something of a stranglehold on goals, with Dwyer, Rymer and Worthington sitting first, second and third respectively.  Rymer managed to add two goals to his tally in the match against Southampton, whilst Dwyer rocketed up the chart with no less than five goals and Worthington with an even more impressive six moving him into contention for the coveted top spot.  There is certainly a long way to go however for both these players and their clubs, and everything could still change before finals time rolls around once again.