Six try Havant too strong for Horsham

LONDON 1 SOUTH
Saturday 23rd November 2019
Horsham 6-35 Havant
Report by Richard Ordidge

Horsham were well beaten 35-3 at Coolhurst by promotion challengers Havant who on this performance look the strongest side in the league in the first ever fixture between the clubs. The Green and Whites slip to eighth in the table on the back of four consecutive defeats, which have all been against the leading sides, but they will wish to arrest this sequence at KCS Old Boys on 7 December after a week’s break which will allow time for players to recover from a series of knocks and injuries.

Havant are the leading club in Hampshire, and look well set to return to play National League rugby at the earliest opportunity. They will have the chance to put themselves in pole position when they travel to Westcombe Park and face the current leaders in their next game.

Horsham hammered away for much of the match but were unable to cross the try line in the face of a well organised defence, meanwhile when Havant attacked they found the Green and Whites to be far more obliging and the margin of defeat would have been greater if the visiting kicker had not missed five out of his six conversion attempts.

A disappointed Head Coach Nick Stocker reflected after the game: “A disappointing day that started immediately from a dropped ball at kick-off and was compounded by several missed tackles which led to a try on 29 seconds. Not an ideal start!

We were slow to settle into the game and although we clawed ourselves back into contention after 20 minutes when we missed the opportunity to take the lead, with our basic skills lacking today, we were always up against it against a strong, physical, well drilled side whose basics didn’t desert them.”

Horsham’s start was as slow as it was against Belsize Park two weeks ago and found themselves with a mountain to climb as they conceded a couple of tries in the first six minutes. Missed tackles following a dropped kick off led to a stretched defence and after three phases Wayne Dugan used his pace to score a simple try out wide.

The next try was conceded from an attack out wide following a mark on the 22 metre line and a quick tap. The Horsham defence was caught sleeping and when the ball was moved back left, James Wise had a simple run in to the line with the defence too narrow.

Horsham finally put together some phases and a penalty was awarded and converted by Tom Johnson. The Green and Whites were now applying lots of pressure and settling into the game. A penalty was awarded at the breakdown which Johnson converted to narrow the deficit to four points after 20 minutes and they would have taken an unlikely lead when Emmet O’Rahilly crossed with a powerful surge following a line-out drive but it was ruled out for obstruction. This was to be the last time Horsham troubled the score board.

Havant extended their lead from Scott Morris when they scored out wide following several phases, Joel Knight added a penalty following offside in midfield, and then on the stroke of half time a try was conceded from a ball turned over whilst in attack which was kicked long and winger Scott Morris supported well to pop Knight away to score and go into the break leading 23-6.

Horsham came out hard after half time determined to turn the game around but an interception from Ben Chambers when Horsham were in attack saw him run 75 metres to score.

The Green and Whites had a lot of possession but could not break down the visitors defence and Havant sealed their win when Wise after a powerful run added his second try wide out from scrum first phase after several missed tackles.

Stocker continued: “We coughed up possession when carrying the ball repeatedly today and were punished when gifting possession to a dangerous side. On those occasions when we did look after the ball we looked bereft of attacking ideas in the face of a solid defence.

We have now lost four on the trot, with three of these losses against the top three teams. Today was the hardest to suffer given the way we performed and we will need to be much better following the week’s break when we travel to KCS.

Mike Watts showed his spirit in his return to the side and played with no shortage of aggression and Nick Bell and Jamie Redmayne were their usual hard working selves. Man of Match awarded by Havant went to Jack Osgood who carried hard all afternoon.”

Horsham: Wilde; Watts, Johnson T, Bell J, Riley (Smith); Johnson S, Linfield; Bell N, Preston, Barber (Earle); Goward, Osgood; Redmayne, Smith J, O’Rahilly (Brady)