1stXV Frustrations.

Achorians were clearly a motivated side as befits a newly promoted team, but despite the result, Horsham will rue their profligacy in try scoring opportunities and feel disappointed that we did not convert the territory and possession into a victory.

Despite the first 13 minutes of Anchorian pressure, Horsham weathered the storm easily enough and did not look like having their line breached apart from one occasion when Anchorian handling when in overlap went astray and a try went begging. Horsham gradually started to get into the game and began to string a few phases together and with fine offloads began to work their way into opposition territory. However, it was clear that this was to be a long day as offload after offload was forced and as a result the initiative was handed back to Anchorians. This pattern continued until on 20 minutes a penalty was conceded as a result of trying to recover another dropped ball and was duly converted by Anchorians' kicker leaving the score 3-0

on 22 minutes, another handling error saw the ball dropped into the Achorians defence and with a simple pass and hesitancy in the Horsham defence, the Anchorian 6 picked up the ball and surged through the poorly formed defencive line to score to the right of the posts which was duly converted - 10-0

Horsham were struggling to put phases together on account of the desire to play too much rugby and this played into the Anchorians back row that were having the better of the loose exchanges. On 29 minutes, following some more cohesive attacking, a penalty was awarded in front of the posts that was duly converted by Mark Brandon to get Horsham on the scoreboard - 10 - 3

Shortly after, Horsham surged into the Anchorians 22m and recycling the ball from right to left saw the ball arrive to Tom Wright who scored an unconverted try in first half stoppage time - 42 minutes 10-8

Anchorians were next on the score board following some good handling and poor tackling in the centres to see a converted try to the left of posts. 45 minutes played and the score 17-8

At this stage in the game, Horsham started to show the dominance at scrum that should have proved the attacking platform to recover the position. However, despite winning all scrums with impunity, Horsham decision making proved costly as the decision to run such quality possession rather than force penalties proved costly. The proof had been there for all to se on 53 minutes when a scrum in the Anchorians 22m was easily controlled and a ruck set up in midfield. Quick recycling saw Tom on the end of the sweeping move right to score his second of the match which was converted by Mark Brandon - 17-15

The unsavoury incident of 2 sendings off for a bout of fighting which would normally have seen 2 yellow cards followed at 60 minutes and was the only dark note on an otherwise enjoyable game of rugby.

Horsham continued to press but could not turn possession and territory into points. On 63 minutes, a Horsham lineout was disrupted and the knock on was missed by the ref. Horsham regrettably stopped momentarily and the ball was swept left by the Anchorians backs to score a converted try out wide - 24-15

Horsham pressed for the remainder of the match and on 76 minutes turned over a scrum which after sweeping the ball left and right found prop Adam Day wide on the right to dot down for an unconverted try. - 24-20 and in so doing setting up a tense finish.

Despite the pressure, this never turned to points and resulted in a disappointing loss. Anchorians played well and the result was a fair reflection of the game but Horsham will be frustrated at the failure to convert tight dominance into proper field position and points. In the words of the ref after the game - Horsham were comfortably on top in the tight but failed to deal with the Anchorians back row until it was too late. With this lesson learnt, Horsham will be all the better for future games and will look forward to the return fixture in due course.