Fast start from Park leaves Horsham too much to do

LONDON 1 SOUTH
Saturday 29th February 2020
Horsham 27-48 Westcombe Park
Report by Richard Ordidge

Westcombe Park enjoyed a comfortable 48-27 win at Horsham in blustery conditions to close the gap on Havant at the top of the table, in the fight for the only automatic promotion place, who narrowly lost at Belsize Park. It wasn’t all plain sailing for the visitors as the Green and Whites narrowed the gap to 38-27 midway through the second half before Westcombe Park pulled away with a converted interception try and a penalty.

Westcombe Park were soon on the scoreboard when Charlie O’Sullivan capitalised on a dropped ball. Tom Johnson replied with a penalty, then Dan Hamilton ran through several missed tackles to score under the posts converted by Harvey Young. Minutes later missed tackles in the centres saw Max Wilkins break to put Nick Hill away to score.

Horsham responded in their first meaningful attack when Declan Nwachukwu shrugged off a couple of tacklers to then accelerate away to score under the posts which was converted by Johnson to close the deficit to 10-19.

Hamilton added his second try to secure Westcombe Park’s four try bonus point and then Elliott Powell used his strength to power over and score his first try for the 1st XV after a succession of good pick and go phases. The half finished with Young scoring to make the score 15-31.
It looked as if it was going to be difficult for Horsham to get back into the game as injuries took their toll and matters were made worse for the hosts when early in the second half Hamilton completed his hat-trick and the game seemingly over with the score at 15-38.

Horsham had other ideas as they scored two tries in quick succession. Emmet O’Rahilly crossed the line after a penalty kick to the corner, a line out drive and a succession of pick and goes which was well converted in the wind from wide out by Johnson, and Nwachukwu added his second following some good pressure play after which the ball was spun wide. 27-38.

With Horsham forcing the play, George Perkins intercepted another wide pass and showed a clean pair of heels to run in from the half-way. Young converted and added a further penalty to seal the win and snuff out the Horsham revival.

Horsham head coach Nick Stocker reflected after the game: “Knocks to key players throughout the game combined with a growing injury list conspired to see the prospect of an upset diminish early in the game. That said, the lads showed some great spirit against a side who are now desperate to win every game with bonus points and potentially rely on other teams doing them a favour in their quest for promotion.

Allowing a dangerous back line space on a hard track did not help matters and early mistakes allowed Westcombe Park to settle into the game which proved closer than the score line ultimately suggested. The interception late in the second half was crucial as breathing space was granted to Westcombe Park when a tense arm wrestle could have been the alternative for the remaining 10 minutes.

We took further knocks today which doesn’t help matters with a tough away trip to Camberley next week, but these are the realities of London 1 and our young team are acquitting themselves well to the challenges. Our man of the match went to Emmet O’Rahilly for his efforts against a strong pack giving us good front foot ball and getting on the score sheet amidst the strong second half performance.”