Horsham Under 18 girls played Old Reigatians on Friday night as a showcase match under the floodlights in front of 250 people at Horsham Rugby club. The Under 18s were walked to the pitch by the Under 11s girls team, which was an amazing sight as 50 members of the girls from the girls section entered the field and lined up together for a moments silence for Rugby Against Racism.
From the kick off, there was a slight nervous start from both teams as the occasion slightly got to both teams. Old Reigatians with a lot of the early ball and looking threatening, but a turnover in the midfield Horsham then pressured in the Reigatians 22. An excellent miss pass from Ellie Ediss and perfectly timed pass from Katie Shillaker put Millie Smith in for the first of her 2 tries on the night. A close miss from out wide with the conversation from Freya Bell, gave Horsham a 5 point lead after 4 minutes.
Some good attack from Old Reigatians after the restart, with them looking to push the ball wide was repelled by Horsham and Reigatians were pushed back to the half way line, Safia Cross fell on a bouncing ball and the ball was spun wide by Ediss and an expertly timed out the back of the hand pass from Shillaker, put Smith in for a 40 metre run in to score her second of the evening. Bell slotting the extras for 12-0.
A prolonged period of pressure followed by Old Reigatians near the Horsham line, and perfectly timed pass put them in for their first try of the evening under the posts. The conversation was easily kicked to bring the scores to 12-7.
This woke up the Horsham team, runs from Izzy White, Juliana Paul and Ella Earle put Horsham in a good attacking position. Another long range break from Smith, who was dragged down agonisingly close to the line. The ball was retained for a number of phases which tired the Reigatians defence and Bell managed to squeeze in under the posts. She added the conversation for a 19-7 lead.
From the subsequent kick off, Lois Martin fed the ball to White who gained 10m, after a quick ruck the ball was fed to Juliana Paul who set up another ruck. With again quick ball the ball came to Alina Hillicks who coasted through the gap in front of her. With 50m still to go, she stepped off her left foot and rounded the full back and scored an excellent try to the right of the posts. Bell duly added the extras for 26-7 led.
Pressure was back on Horsham from the kick off, Reigatians spun the ball from right to left and went round the outside but with a powerful covering tackle from Georgia Pearce, stopped a certain try. The subsequent Horsham attack was the snuffed out by the Reigatians defence and pounced on the bouncing ball to score their second of the game. The conversation was missed for a Half time score of 26-12.
After some quality Half time entertainment that put the recent NFL Super Bowl to shame, the teams restarted and almost immediately Horsham were back on the offensive. The ball was spun out and an outstanding offload from Ediss put Shillaker in for her first of 3 for the night. The conversation was narrowly missed by Pearce. Horsham’s powerful scrummage was starting to get the upper hand and getting the out from under Reigatians pressure, Eve Clarke and Evie Guy were striking against the head the whole game. Guy’s latest scrummage win on 44 minutes, gave Shillaker space to round her opposite player, and with 60 metres to go she pinned her ears back, rounded the full back to score by the posts. Another close miss from Pearce bought the scores to 36-12.

Horsham’s pressure continued after a mazy run from Pearce was then followed by powerful runs from Eddis and Paul and Horsham were back inside the Reigatians 22. Quick think and a soon to patented snip from Lucy Senneck saw her drive over the line from close range. Pearce’s conversion was successful to bring the scores to 43-12.
Reigatians “never say die” attitude put the Horsham scrum and defence under pressure, but the storm was weathered by Horsham barnstorming runs from Tegan Williams and Tiggy Bellinger, but were cut short by good Reigatians defence. Horsham found themselves defending deep in their 22 and the constant pressure from the Reigate side rewarded them with a well-deserved third try. And with the successful conversation bought the scores to 43-19.
Constant Horsham Pressure and good running from Kacey Matthews, bought a scrum to Horsham 5 metres from the Reigate line. A well run first phase backs move put Shillaker in for her third of the night. The conversion was easily dispatched by Bell to bring the final score to 50 – 19.
Neil Hobbs the Horsham Head coach spoke after the game saying “What a fantastic team we have to coach at Horsham. That was our most complete performance of the year. A special well done and thank you to Coach Matt Brown for putting this evening together.”
Attack Coach Matt Brown added “The girls have worked so hard this year and to play as well as they did in front of such a crowd at the club shows what quality players we have. The entire girls section has such talented rugby player within it, and we are fortunate to be able to showcase their skills in front of such support including our sponsors Henry Adams, Impact Finance, Les Searle and Hartley Fowler. Also congratulation to Lois Martin on her Player of the Match award, well deserved as she controlled the game extremely well from 9 and the prize for that donated by Paige Collins was very much appreciated”
This game was organised also as a farewell for 4 of the Horsham girls who will be continuing their rugby careers elsewhere after this match. Katie Shillaker and Grace Clifford will be joining up with the Harlequins Premierships ladies team as well as joining the England Under 18s squad for the up-and-coming Home Nations cup in April. The game came only 2 weeks after Katie Shillaker made her England debut against Scotland in which she scored 2 tries. This year’s captain, Lucy Senneck will be joining the London Irish ladies team and Jessie Spurrier will be joining the Saracens ladies Premiership team. A massive congratulations to those girls, you have been an incredible part of this team and we are all hugely proud of you, and look forward to celebrating your future successes.