Disappointment for Horsham

Horsham travelled to Uckfield in confident mood on Saturday, and the late blast of summer weather meant the ladies of East Sussex were lucky enough to be treated to the sight of a Horsham warm up dominated by vests and rolled-up sleeves. Lovely.

Confidence was matched by an expectation that Uckfield would provide Horsham's toughest challenge of the season so far, and this proved to be the case. Within the first minute a thundering tackle by Dan Crook on the Uckfield number 8 resulted in a penalty at the ensuing ruck, which the fly half coolly slotted to give them a 3-0 lead.

Not long after a strong run by the Uckfield 7 saw him break the defensive line, but a great cover tackle by James Whiting saw the ball lost in contact and the flanker looking for his ribs. Lovely stuff.

Some over-enthusiastic old school rucking (translation: a bit of shoe pie) from the second row saw Uckfield down to 14 men, and gave Horsham a chance to get back into the game. The remainder of the first half saw the visitors begin to dominate posession, but depite being camped in Uckfield's half a couple of missed penalties meant that the score approaching half time remained 3-0. A good build up of play saw Horsham get closer to the Uckfield line, but hands in the ruck from the other second row meant the chance went begging and Uckfield were back down to 14 men.

Horsham looked to continue the pressure from the kick off, but 10 minutes in Uckfield used their powerful forward runners to make dents up the middle of the park, and only a spectacular chase down by Rob Hoskins prevented the breakaway try. Unfortunately they recycled the ball well and went over to make it 8-0.

Staring down the barrel of the first loss of the season Horsham went back at the home team determined to get some points on the board. 25 minutes in and Horsham's duck was finally broken as Matt Goodsir slotted a penalty to make it 8-3.

With the opposition in sight Horsham ramped up the pressure, and went close a couple of times after some good handling and strong running from both backs and forwards. After half an hour Jonny Whiting made it to the line but was unable to keep hold of the ball, and Uckfield cleared their lines.

The breakthrough came on 35 minutes as recycled ball and good hands finally put James Whiting over for the try, and Goodsir's conversion made it 10-8 to Horsham.

All it needed was for Horsham to secure the kick off and not give Uckfield their ball back. Hmmmm. A series of close drives from the kick off and things were looking good, but then Uckfield were able to turn the ball over in contact and the drive was on. Ball was turned over inches short of the line but the kick from Hoskins just missed touch, and the Uckfield back three were able to combine to put their man in the corner for the winning score.

On this occasion Horsham came up against a side who had a well-drilled defence and, more importantly, took the chances that they had. By contrast some soft tackling on Uckfield's ball carriers and the inability to finish off scoring chances meant that Horsham came off second best. Both sides will be looking forward to the return match at Coolhurst.