LONDON 1 SOUTH
Saturday 29th January 2022
Horsham 31 – 14 London Irish Wild Geese
Report by Richard Ordidge

Horsham climbed to eighth position in London 1 South following a commanding 31-14 victory at Coolhurst over London Irish Wild Geese, the amateur arm of the world famous London Irish club. This is their fourth win in five games and the Green and Whites appear to have put their poor early season form behind them. Two tries for Jack Osgood took his season’s tally to seven.

The hosts will be disappointed that they took their foot off the pedal in the second half after leading 26-7 at half time with the four try bonus point secured.

Horsham started quickly when a fine attack from a scrum saw multiple phases and then the ball swung wide with Will Bell hitting a great line to finish well in the first minute. The Green and Whites repeated the feat shortly afterwards when multiple phases and pressure in the opposition 22 metre area saw Jack Osgood crash through to score a try which was converted by Oli Chennell and Horsham take an early 12-0 lead.

London Irish Geese responded with a fine try through midfield from Henry Fuller shrugging off a couple of tackles which he converted, before Andy Gray restored the lead after multiple phase pressure through the forwards followed by a great conversion by Oli Chennell from wide out. Another great driving maul saw Osgood score his second of the day just before half time which was well converted by Chennell before they went into the break.

Horsham effectively secured the win on 50 minutes when a series of scrum penalties saw the hosts camped on the 5 metre line followed by a try scored from Joe Blake after multiple phases in the 22 metre area to go 31-7 in front. These were the last points scored by the Green and Whites as London Irish Wild Geese defended stoutly with great resolve as Horsham went off the boil. Both sides emptied their benches and it was the visitors who troubled the scoreline on 78 minutes with a consolation try by Joe Srokowski from a tap penalty.

Horsham’s Head of Rugby Nick Stocker said after the game: “Another commanding performance seeing a bonus point secured by halftime and with it securing the points objectives we set ourselves for January. With set piece dominance throughout, and our forwards on top in the loose, the performance felt composed throughout. If there is any criticism, it would be we seemed to take our foot off the gas in the second half and did not score more tries that were clearly possible. Regardless, a great result that has seen four wins secured in the last five games and momentum continuing to build.

The forwards were magnificent today with Rich Tredgett leading the lineout well and the physicality of Mike Tredgett, Jack Osgood, Andy Gray and Jordan Smith proving too much for Irish, particularly when on a roll in the opposition 22 metre area. Henry Warwick was excellent playing out of position at 9 today whilst Joe Blake alongside him continues to grow into the 10 shirt and took his try well. Oli Chennell put in a strong performance at 12 capped off with a fine kicking display. The back three of Marcus Condon, Declan Nwachukwu and Will Bell were composed throughout and stretched the opposition defence when the forwards deemed the backs should have the ball! However, given the scrum dominance all afternoon, and unfortunate not to have secured a penalty try from the official, our man of the match was Charles Newey whose all round game was excellent this weekend.

Next week we have the return leg against Chichester and with it the added bite of a Sussex derby. Matches come thick and fast and it will again be a tough match that will no doubt be another great game.”