Horsham continue to toil in search for first win

Horsham Men's 1st XV made the short trip down the M23 to visit Sussex rivals Brighton against whom we have not played a 1st XV league game for over 13 years. The excitement at finally meeting again in league competition ensured that preparation went well in the week and despite the continued travails with front line injuries, Horsham were confident of adding to their points tally and potentially sneaking a win whilst on the road.

Brighton have extensive experience at this level and ultimately it was this experience that counted as the good work done in the 1st half was undone as Brighton's back row in particular and forwards in general wrested control of the match in the second half allowing a talented back line to exploit the space created. Horsham's pack in particular will rue the error count in promising positions and will need to learn to put several phase of positive play together in order to reap rewards. Brighton's pack on the other hand reduced their own error count in the second half which allowed field position to be converted to points and with it a comfortable win in the end.

Despite the final result, there were numerous positives to take from the game, not least the first half performance which saw a back and forth game with Horsham taking the lead on 3 occasions and in doing so asking questions of Brighton. Two tries by the returning Declan Nwachukwu and a further try from Joe Blake, two of which were converted, all in the first 30 minutes certainly provided confidence that a bonus point would be secured at the very least. Unfortunately, in the second half, time and again opportunities were squandered which at this level will come back to hurt you. Brighton did exactly that and ran out comfortable winners in the end.

Head of Rugby Nick Stocker commented - "our young pack are finding the rhythm of the league a challenge at the moment. When we secured good field position and possession, we could not back this up through a combination of a misfiring lineout, and a lack of physicality at the breakdown. The first half however shows what can be done as Brighton certainly felt the pressure as demonstrated by Dec's first try which was a product of defensive line speed and Joe Blake's try which was a function of accurate aggressive phase rugby in the opposition 22m. The team continues to learn and we are progressing on all fronts, with the next challenge to put together an 80 minute performance."