Impressive victory following disruptions

With the Tredgett brothers both off the field with injuries by half time, and giant second row, Jonny Whiting, missing his first game of the season with a fractured finger, Horsham’s young side had to dig deep to absorb the pressure applied by a huge Dunstonians pack.

Dunstonians multi-national side are having a strong season and currently hold an admirable league position bearing in mind the paucity of playing resources they have available to compete at this level, and the struggle they are having to field second and third XV’s.

Horsham started strongly trying to run their patterns but when Johnny Ordidge made a half break, he got isolated and was turned over. The Green and Whites stayed on the attack going through the phases and then Tom Johnson varied the play making a grubber kick through a gap for a five yard line-out.

Dunstonians were invariably up quickly in the backs, verging on offside, and coming close on several occasions to intercept opportunities, but on 5 minutes following a scrum knock on, Johnson delayed his pass and saw the gap open up in front him to race in from 25 yards to score under the posts with the try converted by Will Bell.

From the restart Dunstonians kicked straight out on the full, with the result being a Horsham scrum in the middle of the pitch, and at this point the old boys side had not entered the Horsham half since the beginning of the match.

Dunstonians were starting to use their bulk to gain a slight ascendancy in the scrums but Horsham don’t have the tightest defence in the league for nothing and absorbed a ten minute period of pressure to hold firm with Johnson using his huge siege gun kick on several occasions to clear the danger down field.

Sadly for Horsham Richard Tredgett was forced to leave the field with a minor ankle injury, to be replaced by Ben Pirt, but the Green and Whites were soon back on the attack. Jamie Gibbs made a kick through but Dunstonians won the race to the touch down, then in the next passage of play, Sean Tuhakaraina made a great offload to put James Whiting through a gap but after a strong run he was tackled just short of the line.

Horsham had the opportunity to extend their lead when Dunstonians were penalised for a deliberate knock on but Bell was not able to take advantage and his attempt flew just wide.

With experienced prop, Giles Barber coming back from injury, being brought on as a tactical change, Horsham went on the attack and after a maul on the try line when three of the backs joined in to make an eleven man shove, the referee adjudged that the ball had not been grounded, and from the resulting scrum Michael Tredgett at Number 8 picked up to score from five yards.

Horsham continued to look the more likely side to score when Ben Rush dummied his way through a gap but was hauled down just short of the line and was penalised for not releasing then on the stroke of half time after good multi-phase play Pirt stepped inside his man to score from two yards.

In the final play of the half, captain Paul Talbot went on a rampaging run but knocked on in the tackle as it looked as if he was about to score, and Horsham went in to the break with a 19-0 lead.

The second half started with a long period of Dunstonians pressure as Horsham fought hard to maintain their line intact incurring a hand injury to Arun Thompson and a head injury to Jonny Goward. Young 18 year old prop Kyle Fairs came back on to stabilise the scrum and Ordidge made a powerful break and offloaded to Scott Price in support but he was tackled just short of the line and penalised for a double movement when he thought he had scored.

After going close to scoring having identified a prop on the wing, on 68 minutes Horsham saw another mismatch and James Whiting was able to round his man and run in from 25 yards to score the bonus point fourth try.

Horsham then fired up their driving maul and having gained 10 yards, spun the ball wide but the handling precision in midfield was not there from the runaround move and Dunstonians gratefully picked up the loose ball, with the Green and White defence committed to attack to run in from the half way line.

There was still time for a fifth try when, after Talbot had taken the ball up by running hard and straight, another mismatch was identified and Whiting added his second try to seal the win.

Horsham coach Nick Stocker was clearly delighted with the win; “I am really happy with the result in terms of the number of disruptions we had to sort out following the loss of a number of our main ball carriers and line out options.

I am however disappointed that we didn’t manage to keep them out and it was our mistake which allowed them to score. It was clear early on that we had too much power, cohesion, structure and ability for them and the tries came as we started to wear them down. We played with high intensity and great defensive organisation bearing in mind the amount of disruptions we had.

I thought Will Bell had another good game, Sean Tuhakaraina and Johnny Ordidge were strong with their midfield defence, Kyle Fairs played well and it was good to have Giles Barber back after six weeks out. Paul Talbot was great as usual, Arun Thompson stepped up, Jamie Gibbs was always asking questions and James Whiting scored two good tries.

But my man of the match goes to Tom Johnson for his all round handling, kicking, tackling and for the good try that he scored.”

Horsham’s next game is at home to Uckfield, who are currently sit in mid table, on Saturday 13th December in the league.

Horsham: W Bell, Gibbs, Tuhakaraina, Ordidge, Whiting; Johnson, Rush; Talbot (capt), Fisher, Fairs (Barber 24); N Bell, Goward; M Tredgett (Price 40), Thompson, R Tredgett (Pirt 13)