Lions resolve wins the day

Horsham Lions won their first game in Sussex 1 with a great display of defensive resolve to hold out a powerful Midhurst team, who spent a large amount of time camped in the Lions 22. The team showed the kind of attitude and team work to help them progress in this league and be a competitive outfit.

The game started with the Lions kicking off and after a clearance kick from the Midhurst fly-half that was caught by Sam Shepherd, playing his first game for the club, who then put up a high kicked and chased it with speed and managed to retain the ball. He then showed great strength to push off a number of defenders to score the first try of the game under the post, with Jordan Hart kicking the extras over. This put the Lions on the front foot with the momentum from the opening score and Jordan Hart took the lead to 10-0 with a penalty goal after an infringement from Midhurst. Horsham continued their dominance with another try from fantastic back attacking movement which ended with winger Rob James going over for the try with the conversion.

In the second half with the hill now in their favour Midhurst came out the blocks to push the Lions back into their 22 where a large amount of the action was going to take place throughout the half with Midhurst pushing the Lions defence to its limit. Through this amount of pressure Midhurst managed their first and only score of the game with their outside centre going over for the try with the scrum half kicking the extras over to bring the score to 15-7. That was to be the last score of the game but not the end of the action however, now with a score under their name Midhurst pushed hard for another score yet to no success with a great team display of resistance from the Horsham Lions.

Lions Manager Andy Layzell was in good spirits after the display from his side, “This was an outstanding performance by the team and given the amount of changes we had prior to the start of the match. The guys should great determination in defence; the forwards put a massive shift in the tight areas. With the backs attacking well, there was a number of great performances by guys in particular Fubar (Nick White) who came up from the Barbarians side to play for us and Sam Shepherd who in his first game for the club was impressive in the attacking display. But the man of the match today was Sam Jenkins who put a massive shift in at flanker. We are now seventh in the league and are entering a key period of the season for us to consolidate our position, this can only be maintain if the availability is improved”.

The Lions next game is on the 24th October against Crowborough 2’s away.