Horsham overcome strong Chichester side

With Chichester lying 3rd in the Sussex A league, one place ahead of Horsham, this was a crucial match for both teams and possibly inspired by the visiting Harlequins players, the home side were quickly on the attack and camped in the Chichester 22. Right wing Liam McGivern seemed destined to open the scoring when released by centre Liam Ruz, but what seemed a high tackle meant he hit the corner flag in the process of putting the ball down. Moments later with the line again at his mercy, he knocked on as cold and a slippery ball made handling very difficult.

The pressure eventually told when Horsham were awarded a penalty 10 metres out and no 8 Sean Richardson powered over for a try. The conversion was missed. Despite Horsham's territorial advantage, Chichester used the strong wind at their backs to kick deep into the Horsham 22. When the home side gave away a penalty, Chichester were successful with the kick at goal to bring the score to 5 - 3. Despite further Horsham pressure there was no further score in the first half.

After the break Horsham stepped up a gear and played some outstanding attacking rugby with the handling in backs mesmerising at times - all the more commendable given the wet and windy conditions. They also dominated in the line outs, stealing a lot of opposition ball and winning the majority of their own, assisted by accurate throwing in by hooker David Fennelly. 5 minutes in, wing Declan Nwachukwu came into the line, broke through the defence and touched down for Horsham's 2nd try. Liam Ruz made the conversion and the lead was now 12-3.

With Horsham forwards startiing to dominate through strong running and driving from Jack Plane, Dan Riley, Callum Murphy and Aiden Plumpton and with half backs Josh Steggles and Matt Streeter dictating play, 3 more tries came quite quickly. Firstly, McGivern was rewarded for an enterprising performance as he cut through the Chichester defence to touch down emphatically, the frustration from his earlier misses clear to see. Then an outstanding backs move saw Nwachukwu evade a number of defenders to score his second try in the corner. The final try was also a gem. Mcgivern was under pressure in his own 22 and instead of kicking safely to touch, he broke left and after evading a couple of tackles kicked open and
into the Chichester half. Nwachukwu chased the ball down and though under pressure from 2 Chichester defenders he showed great footballing skills and managed to dribble the ball 35 metres and touch down in the corner. Despite his hatrick, Nwachukwu was left frustrated at the end as as he could have at least doubled his try tally as the very slippery ball went to ground 4 times in the windy conditions with the try line at his mercy. His 3 tries were all outstanding but he set's himself very high standards.

All the conversions were missed and with the score 27 - 3 and the bonus point secured Horsham were able to make full use of their replacements. All of them performed excellently but a very determined and fired up Chichester side took advantage of the inevitable disruption from the chopping and changing of positions to score two late tries which went unconverted.

Despite the wet and very heavy underfoot conditions both sides played exceptional rugby with Horsham delighted to win 27 - 13 against such strong opposition and move ahead of Chichester in the league. Joint men of the match - scrum Josh Steggles and flanker Dan Riley.