Watts hat-trick on home debut

With the top six sides in the league all victorious Horsham consolidated their grip on fourth place with a thumping 51-17 bonus point win at home to Thanet Wanderers.

Victory was made sweeter by the memory of Thanet doing the double over the Green and Whites in their own promotion season two years ago and inflicting a similar winning margin on Horsham when the sides last met in Broadstairs.

Horsham made light of having to make six enforced changes from last week’s starting line-up due to illness, holiday and work commitments in their best performance of the season to date, revealing the depth of the squad when everyone is available, and giving the coaching team a selection headache for the next game.

With Horsham attacking from the outset and Simon Gaynor and Jonny Whiting both making surging runs in loose play, Thanet conceded an early penalty in the first minute having strayed offside and the kick was slotted by Aled Price making a welcome return from university.

The Green and Whites were soon under pressure when James Johnson had a clearance kick charged down and Horsham had a period of having to absorb pressure from Thanet but Arun Thompson made an interception and with a burst of pace appeared to be clean through but a defending hand spoiled his pass to Mike Watts for a certain try.

Horsham were now attacking in waves but after a period of good continuity Price fired out a wide pass which unfortunately for the home side went straight into touch.

This was only a brief respite for Thanet because moments later when nothing appeared to be on, Watts went on a stepping run from the 25 yard line to beat seven defenders through a combination of quick feet, pace and power to score one of the best individual tries seen at Horsham for many years.

Following an exchange of successful penalty kicks at goal, Kyle Fairs made a great tackle to secure turnover ball, Gaynor made another break and this time Thompson was on hand to race in from the half way line. With Price having been successful with all of his kicks at goal Horsham lead 20-3 after 15 minutes.

Horsham then went slightly off the boil and did not score again for another twenty minutes as Thanet pegged back the lead with a penalty. The visitors continued to attack, with Thompson having to make some fine tackles, and when the Green and Whites made errors in running the ball out of defence, possession was ripped rather too easily from the hands of a Horsham player and after a couple more phases Thanet had scored a converted try under the posts to narrow the deficit to 20-13. Horsham woes were compounded when prop Fairs had to leave the field because of injury and was replaced by Mike Penfold.

In the final minute of the half Horsham attacked the blind side from first phase scrum possession which was finished by Watts at pace as the Green and Whites went in to the break 25-11 up.

Half time did not suit Horsham as they lost their fluidity, got on the wrong side of the referee conceding a succession of penalties, and slugged it out in an arm wrestle in the middle of the field, as Thanet narrowed the gap to 25-17.

The Thanet second row was yellow carded for a high tackle on Johnson and then on the hour mark with Joe Green suffering from the intensity of the forward exchanges and taking a knock, Horsham used their bench replacements and moved Johnny Ordidge from outside centre into the second row, and Josh Steggles made his first team debut at scrum-half.

The changes appeared to galvanise Horsham as they scored four tries in the final 15 minutes.

Thompson opened this final sequence of scoring his second try on 66 minutes when after good pressure from the scrum he scored wide on the right. On 74 minutes Joe Wilde scored from a blind side scrum attack after good handling by Steggles and Watts before McCabe put him in the clear. Three minutes later Price found Johnson who made a strong break and after fine handling Watts completed his hat-trick. Finally in the last minute Ordidge made a strong break off a line-out going through several tackles before putting McCabe over under the posts for the seventh try.

Price added two penalties and five conversions over the course of the game.

A delighted Horsham coach Nick Stocker said: “We set a target to be attack minded this season and I am pleased that we scored seven tries showing our attacking intent. We have scored at least four tries in every game this season and we are fashioning opportunities and being clinical.

It is difficult for any side to play at 100% for the full eighty minutes and so it was important to limit them their scoring opportunities when they had ascendancy and yet to score when we had dominant periods.

On occasion we were guilty of trying to play too much rugby in our 22 and it is a fine balance between playing heads up rugby looking to attack and when to be safety first. I do however want the players to have the chance to express themselves and enjoy the game.

We were guilty of giving away too many penalties and we need to smarten up at the breakdown when deciding whether to compete for the ball or to let them have it.

Our defensive structures were better and we worked hard at the breakdown and around the fringes, and now have a better balanced back row.

I thought Jordan Smith stood out for his work-rate, carrying and tackling, quietly going unseen doing the dirty work in the contact area and drove hard into the Thanet defence which lead to Mike Watts’ third try.

Simon Gaynor carried well, tackled, ran the line-out effectively and provided control and influence.

Arun Thompson combined physicality with athleticism. Mike Penfold did well stepping up and turned the scrum around when he came on at prop. Josh Steggles played well on debut and offered an edge.

Mike Watts had a great game and offered a finishing threat whenever he touched the ball on his home debut.
James Johnson now looks settled at fly-half and it is a great asset to have Johnny Ordidge’s versatility of being able to step into the second row from centre which gives us greater options on the bench.

My joint man of the match went to Simon Gaynor and Mike Watts.

In summary it was a good performance but there are still areas in which we need to improve. Our set piece was not at its best in the first half and we over complicated it at times when going through the hands.”

Horsham have no game on Saturday and their next fixture is away to Sussex rivals Hove, for their first clash in many years due to the seasiders having previously been in higher leagues, on 24th October with kick-off at 1.00pm.

Horsham: Watts; Wilde, Ordidge, McCabe, Price; Johnson, Mills (Steggles 60); Barber (capt), Grantham-Hill, Fairs (Penfold 33); Whiting, Green (Crook 60); Smith, Thompson, Gaynor