Horsham sent wandering back home after pointless trip to Thanet

The Broadstairs based side has historically competed a couple of leagues higher, and look set to bounce back after successive relegations whilst the rest of the sides in the upper reaches of London League 3 scrap it out for the remaining promotion place.

This was a reality check for Horsham and showed the level required if they hope to compete in a higher league. There is also a worrying lack of consistency from Horsham who three weeks ago failed to beat the Beccehamians who were bottom of the league, then only a week later the Green and Whites managed to beat Ashford, who at the time were top of the league.

There can be little in the way of excuses as the Green and Whites were able to field a strong side, even though both regular second rows were away on ski-ing holidays, and although the side was disrupted by the double injury to Nick Essex and Ben Pirt after 35 minutes, the writing was by then on the wall.

Horsham coach Nick Stocker said “I was disappointed with our performance. We were well below par with our intensity, our line-out and our handling, and we came up against a side at the top of their game who executed a simple game plan extremely effectively.”

Horsham started brightly with the wind at their backs with little sign of the points deluge against them to come. An attacking position was worked after 5 minutes for Will Bell to strike a penalty goal, but his attempt went just wide. When Thanet had the ball they showed their organisation and ability to retain the ball by recycling through several phases, but a Will Bell tackle allowed Lee Taylor to pounce and secure turnover ball.

The Green and Whites then worked a backs move through the centres to bring Essex in off his wing, but it broke down and Thanet counter-attacked and centre Stuart Plumridge barged through and thought he had scored but the referee had his doubts as to whether he had grounded the ball over the line.

Thanet broke the deadlock on 15 minutes when Connor Brown crossed the line to score from a powerful rolling maul executed at pace over 20 yards.

Horsham bounced back when the ball was spun wide to Essex on the left wing, who rounded his man, beat the next defender but was then floored by a last ditch tackle 5 yards short of the line.

On 26 minutes, Wanderers were penalised for offside and this time Will Bell slotted his penalty attempt to reduce the deficit to 7-3.

Although Horsham had a marginal edge in the scrum battle, they were coming second best to Thanet in all other areas of the field and soon the home side turned their superiority into points when Phil Kemp outflanked the defence as the Green and Whites ran out of defenders.

Will Johnson was then yellow carded for a reckless tackle and the floodgates opened when Thanet scored through the forwards from a powerful maul, then as Horsham were disrupted by injuries forcing Essex and Pirt to leave the field, Thanet added a well worked bonus point try having gone through several phases, to take a 22-3 lead going into the break.

Horsham started the second half positively. Scrum-half Ben Rush made a strong break and then the ball was spun wide to Jamie Gibbs who made ground before he was tackled.

Thanet were clinical in capitalising from a poor kick in open play lead to add a further try, then Horsham fought back when Nick Bell won the ball off the back of the line-out and attacked the Thanet defence. The ball was then recycled and spun wide for Will Johnson to score in the corner.

Unfortunately for Horsham this did not spark a revival and only served to prompt Thanet to increase the intensity of their game as they added a further four tries, as Horsham started to drop off tackles.

42 year old veteran fly-half Peter Macauley, evaded the rushing defence to dance through to score under the posts, second row Connor Brown bounced Aled Price aside to send Tom Ash over in the corner, and after a comedy of errors when two successive passes went behind the intended recipient, the Thanet player just had to gratefully fall on the ball to score behind Horsham’s line.

Stocker added “They gained belief from their try and put our forwards under greater pressure than we have faced so far this season. When I spoke to the players at half time, I told them to spin the ball wider and throw caution to the wind in an attempt to secure a bonus point, and although we scored a very good try, when playing catch up rugby there is always the risk of leaving yourself open.

We didn’t show sufficient commitment at the breakdown which allowed them a stranglehold and we were certainly missing the dark arts that Ryan Grover brings to the game. Ben Rush is my man of the match for his work at getting the ball away quickly from the breakdown and his overall tenacity in closing down the opposition Number 8.

Unfortunately Nick Essex has a double break to his arm and Aled Price has a sternum fracture which means he could be out for two months.”

Horsham’s next league game is at home to Old Dunstonians on Saturday February 8.

Horsham: Talbot (capt), Stone (Penfold 57), Barber; Goward, Harman; N Bell, Pirt (Smith 35), Ordidge; Rush, W Bell; Essex (Goodsir 35), Price, Taylor, Gibbs; Johnson