It was never going to be an easy one and it's tempting to just bang on about our opponents; What makes a team move away from a club and drop down in the league? What do their players get out of it and why aren't they testing themselves? But ultimately this would be losing focus on the Horsham guys who made the trip knowing how tough the day could be.
Brighton Outcasts were very able, they exploited the mismatches in age and pace to secure a very comfortable win. The fact is they should have scored a lot more points but time and time again they ignored the obvious overlap and go themselves. I've pondered why they would do this as they are quite capable of seeing and using a 3 v 1 situation and can only surmise that all in all this was quite an unrewarding experience for them and they were looking for something they won't find in the majority of games in this league. Why was it that in the moments which we did bring pressure to them that bickering and discontent soon surfaced.
Horsham Barbarians can still be proud of much of their efforts. The scrum was a rock and the numerous changes of position including a 3/4 line consisting almost entirely of forwards never stopped talking and encouraging those around them to contest the next play as if it was the first. Horsham will reflect a little on a slow start, conceding a couple of soft scores before they warmed to the game and for large parts of the first half it was a proper contest and Horsham will be disappointed to not score in that period. Turning around 17pts down given the early drowsiness should give be a marker for future fixtures. I will gloss over the 2nd half, numerous changes and reshuffles didn't help but it was a half of rugby to forget.
Horsham can now look ahead with hope, away games against two of the top teams out of the way. The benefit of getting 80 mins under the belt will stand us in good stead for the two remaining matches in 2015. It's been a roller coaster year, lets get some good availabilities in and finish it off with a bang.
Rob