The sides know each other well having competed for the past few years in Regional 1 South Central but faced relegation together last season to level 6 in Regional 2 South East.

Horsham had completed the double over their local rivals last season, but the sides are always well matched, and the Green and Whites knew that the fixture would be a major challenge.

Horsham took the lead with a penalty for not rolling away from James Millsom after some good continuity on 2 minutes, but Brighton quickly responded with a try from Tyrone Makasi where in the buildup there was a hint of crossing.

The Green and Whites had most of the play, but a series of handling errors prevented the pressure being turned into points until on 32 minutes Tom Whittaker scored to regain the lead, which was well converted by Millsom to make it 7-10.

Brighton were not going away and Horsham incurred two yellow cards and defended stoutly before the hosts used their numerical advantage for their forwards to drive over to score through Ollie Simpson.

There was still time for Horsham to regain the lead from a line out play despite being down to 13 men through George Howard which was well converted by Millsom to take a 14-17 lead into half time.

Horsham started the second half strongly through a Tom Sanders try following a good first phase attack and go two scores ahead to take a 14-22 lead.

The Green and Whites continued to spill the final ball in their strike moves whilst Brighton were more clinical in their play and finished the match strongly by scoring three tries without reply from Will Hoare, and a brace from Ross Miller.

Sadly, the game then stopped early after 71 minutes because of serious injury to Horsham’s second row, Jacob Denhart, for Brighton to win 31-22.

A reflective Horsham Head of Rugby, Nick Stocker, said after the game: “A disappointing end to a match that for large parts we looked in control of. The game stopped with 9 minutes to play following a worrying injury to Jacob who needed treatment in hospital. Thankfully he is fine and now going through the concussion protocols and we’d like to thank Brighton and their medical team for their support in managing his treatment on pitch.

As for the match itself, it’s a case of one that got away. We know fully well that Brighton will be one of the league’s stronger sides and getting a result here was a challenge. We made that harder on ourselves by our inability to execute in very promising situations leading to dropped balls in the act of scoring or when overlaps were there to be exploited. We dominated territory and set piece was strong throughout allowing a platform for our backs to present more threats.

However, Brighton proved less wasteful, and a 5-minute spell turned the match on its head immediately before the incident that ended the game early. That we left with no points was frustrating and we need to recognise that our profligacy will not help in tight contests. We need to resolve this aspect over coming weeks as it is a theme that has manifested itself in all our matches to date.”