Heartbreak for Horsham

There was heartbreak for Horsham in the last minute of injury time when Bromley scrum-half Jack Wardingley dived over to level the scores, following several phases of possession as the visitors sought the victory, although the conversion to win the game was missed. Horsham will wonder how they did not close out the match as they went into added time, and there will undoubtedly be an inquest within the home side regarding the yellow card given to replacement prop Neal Holden in the 80th minute, who contested a decision and threw the ball away, leaving the Green and Whites to play the final minutes with fourteen men.

Horsham captain Giles Barber was clearly frustrated with the result. “We dominated the set-pieces but conceded too many penalties and we were weak at the breakdown. We committed too many stupid errors such as being offside numerous times and the yellow card summed up our lack of discipline.”

There was little to choose between the teams in the early stages, as expected between two mid table sides. Mark Brandon opened the scoring with a penalty and Bromley responded to level. Bromley broke the deadlock after 16 minutes when full back James Powell went over to score following a well worked three quarters move. After a further exchange of penalties Horsham’s backs showed that they too could stretch the opposition defence with fluent passing, and Sam Rice stepped inside his man and ran in from 20 yards.

With neither side gaining ascendancy, Horsham looked the more likely to score and if Rice had managed to hold a clever kick by Brandon, the Green and Whites would have surely scored but halftime arrived with the scores level at 11-11.

In the second half, Horsham flankers Rob Clegg and Nick Bell were outstanding, covering every inch of the pitch and disrupting any continuity Bromley could find. Aled Price came on and fired out a couple of long passes in an attempt to outflank the Bromley defence, and winger James Whiting made some strong runs, but on each occasion the final pass was forced and the away side managed to stifle the attack.

After another exchange of penalties, on 73 minutes Jonathan Whiting picked up from the back of the scrum and powered over from five yards, but Horsham were unable to hold on to the lead.

Horsham: Talbot (Holden 54), Grantham-Hill, Barber (C); Grover, Matterface; N Bell, Clegg , Jonathan Whiting; Brandon, W Bell (Price 54); Ordidge (Brown 63), S Bell; James Whiting, Rice, Aitken.