The dream is over

Both sides top their respective leagues with neither team having lost for three months so something had to give.

Fullerians started the game playing with greater composure. Horsham allowed the home side’s kick off to bounce just infield for a line out which was won by the Green and Whites but Ben Rush’s pass flew nowhere near Tom Johnson, the intended recipient, creating defensive chaos in the 22 metre area.

From the ensuing scrum, Fullerians spun the ball right, and fly-half Luc Jacobs committed a couple of Horsham players to the tackle and then made a delightful overhead pass to his winger, Tom Williams, to outflank the visitors defence and score in the corner after 4 minutes. The try was converted by Craig Duncan from near the touchline and Fullerians had a 7-0 lead.

Horsham looked to bounce back immediately and James Whiting chased hard and was first to field the restart and launch an attack which almost resulted in a try in the right hand corner. The Green and Whites started to create a few phases of play and on 12 minutes, when Fullerians were caught offside in the backs, Johnson slotted the penalty to reduce the deficit to 7-3.

There were plenty of handling errors in the wet conditions and the game became very tactical with both sides playing the percentages and kicking for position, with Will Bell looking particularly assured at full back.

A key moment in the match came on 26 minutes when Jacobs put in a clever chip over the top of the Horsham defence, and whilst Whiting was waiting for the ball to roll over the try line Williams was first to pounce and ground the ball, and with the try converted the home side took a 14-3 lead which was always going to be difficult for Horsham to claw back.

Horsham however didn’t get to the top of London 3 South East without a fighting spirit and started to put their patterns of play together which culminated in captain Paul Talbot breaking clear but he spilled the ball in the tackle.

After parity for the first twenty minutes, Horsham now had dominance in the scrums and at the following scrum the Green and Whites won the ball against the head and drove the Fullerians pack backwards, and when Michael Tredgett picked up and charged from the back of the scrum he was stopped just short and Johnson was first to pick up the loose ball and stretch for the line. He converted his own try to reduce the deficit to 14-10. Johnson had the opportunity to narrow the gap just before half-time from a scrum penalty but missed his kick.

Horsham started the second half brightly with breaks from Matt Stone and Talbot, and then after a typical charge by Michael Tredgett he lost the ball in contact and Fullerians cleared the danger.

Horsham continued to attack. Sean Tuhakariana chipped over the top and when Jamie Gibbs hacked on Fullerians narrowly won the race to prevent the score. When Fullerians were penalised for offside, Johnson kicked for the corner and Michael Tredgett was stopped just short.

Richard Tredgett then stole Fullerians line out ball and when Johnny Ordidge saw the gap he offloaded to Whiting in support who was stopped just short of the line. Horsham continued to hammer away at the Fullerians line and Kyle Fairs thought he had scored but the referee was not convinced that he had grounded the ball.

Fullerians relieved the pressure when they intercepted Johnson’s pass and entered Horsham’s 22 metre area for the first time in twenty minutes, and with hindsight the visitor's chance had gone with their failure to turn pressure into points.

Both Stone and Nick Bell made key tackles as Fullerians started to exert pressure of their own, and after missing a penalty kick at goal it required Fairs to show his pace to cover a kick through when the home side looked to have outflanked Horsham’s defence.

Finally after the Green and Whites had absorbed a period of pressure and defended a succession of pick and drives, prop Matt Bushell crossed the line, over which there was doubt as to whether the ball had been grounded, to seal the win for Fullerians, and there was no way back for Horsham.

Horsham coach Nick Stocker was disappointed to be on the receiving end of a first loss since October. “I thought we played the better rugby and looked the more threatening side but we couldn’t make the most of our opportunities. We didn’t show enough composure and didn’t execute the openings we made well enough.

But you can’t give a side like Fullerians an 11 point head start. To be fair they defended better than we did, capitalised from our errors and then brought on their big boys in the second half to shore up their scrum.”

Horsham return to league action on January 10th when they are at home to Bromley based Park House.

Horsham: W Bell, Gibbs (Fisher 64), Tuhakaraina, Ordidge, Whiting; Johnson, Rush (Mills 60); Talbot (capt), Stone (Fisher), Barber; Green, Goward (R Tredgett 46); N Bell, Thompson, M Tredgett