Pacey Lions too much for heavy Brighton 2s

With a game played at extreme speed the players were left needing oxygen in some cases despite freezing conditions. Playing on the first team pitch the Lions produce a first team standard match performance with a great display of attacking rugby and controlled defence.

The first few minutes of the match was nonstop with the ball not going out of play until the tenth minute mark and this play from both sides, mainly forced by Horsham, which set the tone of the match for the next 70 minutes. With the influence of Matthew McCabe playing at inside centre the Lions played with a confidence to push the ball out wide and test the Brighton defence. And it was through this expansive play that Horsham’s first try came from with the ball being spread to the right wing, fly half Joe Wilde had the awareness to put in a cross field kick for hooker Matt Stone to latch onto to score in at the corner for the first score of the game, 5-0.

This score woke up Brighton into pushing Horsham back with a number of runs from their big tight head prop, and put Brighton on the front foot also with the help of Horsham being penalised by the ref for a number infringements. With this momentum Brighton crashed over after poor tackling let their big prop in to score bring the scores after the conversion to 5-7. With this score the Lions regrouped and with a powerful burst from McCabe through the Brighton defensive line back, the ball was then spread to the midfield with Stone yet again being in the right location to take a clever line to score under the posts to put the Lions in to the lead with the conversion going over, 12-7. Yet again the Brighton pack showed their power with a driving maul near the Horsham line that resulted in the big prop yet again popping down for the try to draw the scores just before half time, 12-12.

The second half started with a similar theme of attacking rugby from both sides with the ball seeing a lot of air time. Lions dominated the possession and the territory with the forwards gaining metres and the centres putting in some monster tackles. The pressure that the Lions put Brighton under caused them no number of problems which resulted in a Brighton player being shown a yellow card. With the opposition being a man down the Lions took the initiative and immediately went on the attack with the backs trying to get the ball wide but were repelled a number of time by good defensive work by Brighton. The try did eventually come with scrum half Josh Steggles sprinting from 10 meters out to score under the posts to help push the lead to 19-12 with the easy conversion for Wilde.

After the try Horsham had a number of attacks that were foiled by good tackling from Brighton, after a while Brighton regained possession and began to attack Horsham’s line. This pressure caused Horsham to be penalised repetitively and incurred a yellow card for flanker Tom Ayre. Now a man down Horsham were put straight on the back by Brighton and a number of last ditch tackles from the Lions stopped what were certain tries. However the defence was eventually broke down and Brighton manage to score through their forwards but missed the game tying conversion, the score moving to 19-17 for a Lions victory.

The Lions manager Andy Layzell was delighted with the team’s performance, ‘this was an outstanding performance that showed a depth of commitment to beat a Brighton team who used their powerful forwards to great effect, however our defence and pace overcame this, there were a number of outstanding performances across the team, Tom Ayre who was called up to the Lions bench at the last moment put in an outstanding shift in, when he came off the bench at ½ time, Matt Stone scoring 2 tries & Matt McCabe who’s impact and leadership was outstanding. My man of the match was Carl Harman for his all round game in both attack and defence’.

Horsham Lions next Match is away to local rivals Crawley on the 19th March.