Win lifts Horsham

Horsham welcomed Marborough for the first time ever in league rugby with both teams newly promoted into the league at the start of the season. Marlborough have fared better than Horsham to date and visited sitting in 9th in the league 5 points ahead in the table having won 3 matches.

Horsham started brightly trying to maintain tempo in order to move the very large Marlborough forwards around the park and alongside Aaron Linfield's precision kicking, ensured that the 1st quarter was played almost exclusively in the Marlborough third. Two opportunities went begging when firstly an opportunity to drive a maul went astray, and secondly a series of drives at the line resulted in a turnover penalty when Horsham had Marlborough on the ropes. Against the run of play, Marlborough entered the Horsham half and following a series of penalties were defending their try line against the heavy runners. The defence was eventually breached and Marlborough had taken a 5-0 lead.

Horsham came back and continued to peg Marlborough back in their half and alongside an efficient lineout, continued to pressure Marlborough. On 32 minutes, this pressure counted when a well driven lineout saw Tyrese Makasi touch down which was well converted from wide out by Oli Chennel. 7-5 the score which stayed the same into the end of the half.

The match was finely balanced. Horsham looked the more threatening but Marlborough's scrum began to get the upper hand and through this had a way to pressure Horsham. Horsham's defence was however back to its disciplined best and alongside the excellent kicking game, moved play upfield on every occasion that Marlborough entered the Horsham half. On 60 minutes, excellent kick chasing saw a kick ball recovered and in the battle at the breakdown, it squirmed free for Max Greatwood to snap it up and run it in from the 10m line for a try that went unconverted. Sensing a loss on the cards, Marlborough attempted to up their game but fell upon the committed defence that epitomised Horsham throughout the match. As the match went into the final 10 minutes, Horsham went looking for the bonus point scores and despite two opportunities, these were missed with the score line staying the same until the referee blew for time.

In a game where defences were suffocating today, Horsham did offer more in attack and with an accurate kicking game, kept the dangerous Marlborough side under control throughout. The 4 points won lifted Horsham off the foot of the table jumping from 12th to 10th and in doing so now sit 1 point behind Marlborough in 9th. More importantly, they sit only 7 points off 7th in the league which demonstrates how tight the table is, and with the next opponents being 7th place Hammersmith and Fulham, the opportunity to continue to close the gap is very tangible. The week off comes at a good time to reset and rest ahead of the run in to Christmas and with it the opportunity to focus on the next match which will be a great fixture against old foes.