Unbeaten run comes to an end in titanic battle

Indeed this ended an eight match unbeaten run in competitive fixtures for the Green and Whites stretching back to early March when Dartfordians were also the opponents.

Dartfordians are starting to look something of a bogey team to Horsham having now won three times in succession following their return to the London Leagues at the start of last season and unless the Green and Whites can learn to combat their highly effective rolling maul, a repeat result is on the cards for the return fixture in January.

A number of late selection changes due to injury and unavailability, with a couple of replacements looking a little ring rusty having not played for several weeks meant that it was apparent from the kick–off that Horsham were not playing with the precision required for such as important match.

In the first minute Horsham were awarded a penalty but Will Bell’s kick failed to find touch, Scott Price then conceded a penalty at the breakdown, and Horsham were caught asleep as they failed to defend the resulting maul. Horsham’s defence started to fan out but Dartfordians kept driving until a gap opened up and open side flanker Simon Briggs surged from the maul to score but Ciarin Kent missed his conversion.

Horsham responded by using their patterns and going through the phases until they were awarded a penalty for Dartfordians playing the ball on the ground but Will Bell missed his kick at goal. Horsham came back patiently recycling the ball through as many as nine phases until Dartfordians again offended and this time Bell kicked for the corner. Sean Tuhakaraina sent a wide pass to Lee Taylor who spilled the ball under pressure and moments later captain Paul Talbot attacked up the blind side but was nudged into touch. Ben Rush made a sniping run and then Tuhakaraina made an elusive break fending off the opposition by using a windmill action to carry the ball in one hand.

Horsham were exerting considerable pressure and Dartfordians were conceding a succession of penalties at the scrum and at the breakdown but the Green and Whites were unable to convert this pressure into points.

After 20 minutes Horsham were caught napping having turned the ball over when Dartfordians attacked the blind side from inside their own 22 and when this was stopped by a block off the ball, from the penalty Dartfordians quickly spun the ball left as Horsham were slow to realign and winger Tom Tuley ran in to score unopposed to take a 12-0 lead.

James Whiting and Tuhakaraina were running hard but could not find a way through as the Dartfordians defence remained solid, and when the opposition countered it required a great tackle from Tuhakaraina to force his man into touch and prevent a possible score.

Dartfordians were being forced to absorb huge pressure and were conceding a succession of penalties. After a tip tackle the referee brandished his yellow card and they were down to 14 men for ten minutes.

Bell opted to kick for the corner instead of goal on a couple of occasions in pursuit of a try which finally came on 28 minutes when he made a great pick up, to send Tuhakaraina on a break and enable James Whiting to run in and score from 25 yards.

Shortly afterwards Bell saw the opportunity to straighten the line and accelerate through the gap to score after a quick tap penalty from Rush and he converted to level the scores at 12-12.

Jonny Whiting ran back from the kick off and with good support Horsham made further inroads into Dartfordians territory but when the Green and Whites were penalised for pulling the scrum round the home side kicked for the corner.
Horsham were stunned by conceding two tries in three minutes on the stroke of half-time. Dartfordians perfectly executed their rolling maul from the line out for Briggs to score his second and from wide out Kent’s conversion attempt grazed the outside of the post. From the kick off the Dartfordians number 8 Sam Allen ran 50 yards through several weak Horsham tackles until he was felled by James Whiting to prevent a remarkable solo score, but centre Joe Bowmer was in support to score under the posts to take a 24-12 lead into half time.

This double blow and a regrouping at half-time prompted a strong Horsham response as they overturned the deficit. A powerful Tuhakaraina break created the position for Bell to peg back the lead with a penalty in front of the posts.

Horsham continued to exert pressure as they forced Dartfordians to concede a succession of penalties in front of their own posts, as the Green and Whites opted to take scrums, and finally the ball was moved smartly to the right for James Whiting, who had by now been switched to the wing, to storm over to score.

After persistent infringements as Dartfordians tried to absorb the Horsham pressure the referee waved another yellow card and the home side were again down to 14. Michael Tredgett broke from the back of the scrum, and fed Tuhakaraina who slipped the ball to Whiting who completed his hat-trick in the corner which Bell converted from the touchline and in a dramatic turnaround Horsham had fought back to take a 27-24 lead.

Dartfordians resorted to their strengths and having almost scored from a rolling maul made no mistake when they tried again minutes later to send Bowmer over for his second try to regain a 29-27 lead.

In a cup tie atmosphere and the game being played with high intensity, Horsham bounced back and James Whiting almost scored again, and when Dartfordians were caught offside in the backs on 75 minutes Bell calmly slotted his penalty to regain a 30-29 lead.

From the kick-off, pressure from blind side flanker Matthew Randall forced Jonny Whiting into a knock on and from the subsequent maul Horsham conceded a penalty in front of the posts for Kent to slot and seal a 32-30 win for Dartfordians.

Horsham coach Nick Stocker said “It was disappointing to lose. A Dartfordians spectator generously said to me as we walked off that “the better team lost but you were not as clinical.” They have a simple but effective game plan based around a rolling, driving maul, but we lacked the intensity and dynamism to deal with it. We coughed up possession needlessly too often when we had them under pressure, and we didn’t turn the screw and make the pressure count.

On the positive side, even though we had four regular first teamers missing we challenged one of the top sides in the league on their own patch and still came away with two bonus points, and our squad players ran them hard.

In short it was a lack of concentrated intensity at specific moments that let us down.

James Whiting is my man of the match and I thought Ben Rush also had a good game.”

Horsham’s next league game is at home to local rivals Lewes on 18th October who following relegation have been having a difficult season so far.

Horsham: Talbot (capt), Stone (Lowe 40), Barber; Green, Jonny Whiting; Price, Thompson, M Tredgett; Rush, W Bell; Downey (N Bell 40), Ordidge, Tuhakaraina, Taylor (Layzell 60); James Whiting