Amazing last minute win for Horsham at Thurrock

Horsham made their first ever trip to play Thurrock in Essex and knew they would be in for a tough game against a side who in recent years have been playing a league or two above the Green and Whites, and came away with a remarkable 38-34 away win in the final play of the game.

Horsham Head Coach Nick Stocker said: “A five point win stolen from the jaws of defeat with the last play made for a fantastic outcome. However, we were far from fluent today making too many errors both in terms of basic skills and in terms of discipline which allowed Thurrock to build field position and pressure at the right times. When we did look after the ball we looked far more dangerous creating some great tries including an 80m effort to open the scoring as well as the obvious highlight in the last play. Whilst we are pleased to get the win, we know we are much better than today which given this was a tough place to visit puts the result in to perspective.”

Thurrock’s start to the season has not lived up to the expectations of the home support, where the goal at the start of the season was to be challenging for the promotion places, but at the start of play the hosts were lying below Horsham in the league table having had the tougher run of opening fixtures. The Essex side were however boosted by the return of England 7’s star Sam Stanley playing his first home game of the season.

Horsham had a blistering start. Thurrock failed to find touch with a penalty and the ball was fielded over his head by Declan Nwachukwu who initiated a great counter attack which saw the ball spun wide for Mike Watts to put Josh Sudder away for an 80 metre opening try in the opposite corner of the field which was well converted from the Tom Johnson. The kicking was to become one of the differences between the sides as Johnson did not miss a kick all afternoon until his final strike of the match by which time the win had been secured.

Thurrock quickly responded with a try from centre Phil Ellis converted by Stanley after Horsham had conceded too many penalties to grant field position. Watts left the field with a knee injury to be replaced by Christian Squire as Horsham were forced to make an early substitution.

The hosts then took a 12-7 lead in a game which see-sawed from a first phase scrum when the ball was spun wide to winger Lewis Cross to score after some missed tackles on the inside which was unconverted. Johnson pegged back the lead with a penalty awarded on the 10 metre line after a Thurrock was found to be playing the ball on the ground in the contact area.

Horsham then retook the lead following some great attacking play which saw an eventual lineout awarded, and after a good front peel Jack Osgood finished well to score. The extras were added by a great conversion from out wide by Johnson. The visitors advantage was extended by another long range kick by Johnson from the 10 metre line when Thurrock were penalised for offside at the breakdown. 12-20.

Stanley slotted a penalty and Horsham had absorb a further period of pressure into the half time break and go in leading 15-20 as Vince Everitt was yellow carded for not rolling away.

Horsham battled hard whilst being a man down and won the yellow card period when Johnson kicked a penalty awarded for offside in open play.

Thurrock responded with a try from Tom Pool converted by Stanley to narrow the deficit to 22-23. Horsham then conceded a penalty at the breakdown for not releasing but the kick was missed. Thurrock then regained the lead when Joss Nunn scored from a turnover kick and the ball was moved wide which was well finished and converted by Stanley.

Johnson clawed back the deficit with a long range penalty kick following a turnover secured by Everitt, but then on 70 minutes Nunn added his second try which was unconverted, to take what appeared to be a winning lead 34-26 into the final ten minutes after poor execution in the Thurrock red zone and a series of Horsham errors saw field position lost and the Green and Whites punished.

With three minutes remaining Horsham were eight points behind, and having only scored two tries were set to go home with nothing. A line out on the Thurrock 22 metre line caught the hosts napping as Ciaran Preston scored from a front peel which was well converted from the touchline by Johnson 34-33.

Then on the final play of the game Declan Nwachukwu made a stunning 70 metre break, and when he was stopped great support play saw the ruck cleared and the ball moved open via Jordan Bell, Johnson and Finn Hillicks for Jamie Redmayne to score, win the game and secure the bonus point win.

Stocker summarized after the game: “The forwards were very good today with the back row to the fore, and against a big pack, all of the front row put in an excellent shift. Tom Johnson was once again excellent both with his kicking where he missed only one and his carrying. Alongside him, on his birthday, Marcus Condon put in a good performance, particularly defensively, playing in an unfamiliar position at outside centre. However, with a strong performance all round, especially through his uncompromising defence, Dan Cass was awarded our Man of the Match.

Next week we have a very tough home fixture against league favourites Camberley and will need to be on top of our game to get the result we want.”

Horsham: Watts (Squire); Sudder, Johnson, Condon, Nwachukwu; Bell J, Linfield; Cass, Preston, Bell (Brady); Goward, Osgood; Redmayne, Everitt (Jenkins), Hillicks,