2nd XV - Lions
Matches
Sat 21 Feb 2015  ·  Sussex 'Canterbury Jack' Intermediate League
Horsham Rugby Club
2nd XV - Lions
22
3
Ditchling 1
Youthful Horsham Lions show character to defeat Ditchling

Youthful Horsham Lions show character to defeat Ditchling

Richard Ordidge23 Feb 2015 - 06:08
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A youthful Lions side defeated an experienced Ditchling side 22-3 at home to move back to third in the league.

With seven of the side being made up of last year’s Colts team it showed that Horsham has a bright future. Throughout the match Horsham showed an impressive display of pace and power to overcome a tough Ditchling defence. Despite the game being marred by four yellow cards, which could easily have derailed most teams, Horsham showed fantastic composure and team spirit to come through 30 minutes of the match with only 13 players on the pitch.

From the start Ditchling caused the Lions problems with their pick and goes around the ruck with delicate off-loads proving a challenge to stop. Within the first 5 minutes the Lions conceded a penalty at the breakdown, and the Ditchling fly half slotted the penalty over to give the away side a 3-0 lead. The Lions responded straight away from the kick by forcing Ditchling in to conceding a penalty in front of their post, and fly half Josh Chalk kicked the points to level the scores.

Ditchling countered by spinning the ball out wide to their winger only to be stopped by a good covering defence from Lions full-back James Layzell and wing Jerry Downey. After this Horsham’s defensive pressure increased with regular first team player James Whiting, playing outside centre, showing great defensive skill to cause his opposite number to drop the ball a number of times to close out Ditchling’s attack. Richard Henderson also playing in the centres showed his power with a number of massive hits, from one of these he was able to dislodge the ball and then recover the ball to release Downey to out sprint four Ditchling defenders to score in the corner to increase Horsham’s lead to 8-3 going into half time.

After a productive team-talk at half time the Lions came out with increase intensity by driving the Ditchling defence back to their 22, only for the ball to be knocked on. From the ensuing scrum Ditchling conceded a penalty, however after the scrum collapsed and the forwards from both teams got back to their feet there was a disagreement between the packs which lead to a number of punches being thrown with Ditchling losing a prop to the bin and Horsham also losing Kyle Fairs to the bin. From the penalty Horsham kicked to the corner, and from the line out the Lions got the ball to Henderson who broke the gain line to set the platform for the Lions forwards to show a great display of power from consecutive pick and goes, with man of the match Joe Emson bursting through two tacklers to score his first try of the game.

After this, Ditchling made a number of attempts to get back into the game only to be repelled by a strong and organised defence from the Lions. Horsham second came from a long range counter attack started by Layzell and then from great interplay by supporting playing from Matt Blake, Whiting and Downey. With this Horsham stormed into the Ditchling 22, only for infringing to stop the flow of the attack but after a number of quick tap penalties the ball was spread wide to find Emson, again showing his power by crashing over the line for his second try of the game, converted by Chalk. This was to be final score of the match but not the end of the action in the match with the Lions now pushing for the bonus point try.

Ditchling started to show frustration and began to infringe regularly but not punished with any cards, however the Lions conceded another player to the bin with Dan Cass being shown yellow for foul play. From the penalty Ditchling kicked deep in the Lions territory only for experienced lock Carl Harman to steal the ball at the line out but only to knock on the ball. After repeated attacks Lions cleared their line and forced the opposition into knocking on the ball, from the scrum Horsham conceded a penalty. One of the Ditchling players took offence to something that happened and punched Lions prop in the back of the head, which caused a scrap to ensue with Carl Harman being shown yellow and somehow no Ditchling players being sent off. After this Horsham show fantastic resolve to see the game out.

Horsham Lions manager Andy Layzell was encouraged with the display, ’the boys showed great character and grit to get through a tough game against a well organised team. The game was at times scrappy and I was impressed with our defence with Ditchling not crossing our line for the whole match even with a number of golden chances to score a try. My man of the match was Joe Emson showing great skill and strength to produce a fantastic display today. Also have to mention the big influence James Whiting had on our game by being a calming influence to play when needed and Joey Walker having yet another fine game a scrum-half making a number of good breaks, as well as flanker Dan Cass being massive in defence with a number of big hits to stop the oppositions runners. I’m very proud of how the guys bounced back from the defeat in the Sussex Bowl match last week, this showed what character the guys have and also how much potential we as a team and club have’.

Horsham Lions next match is against Heathfield & Waldron 2nds next weekend 28th February at home.

Scorers:
Tries: Downey, 2xEmson
Conversions: 2xChalk
Penalty Goals: Chalk

Line Up:
1.Mike Penfold, 2.Iain Fisher Cpt, 3.Kyle Fairs, 4. Carl Harman, 5.Joe Emson, 6.Dan Cass, 7.Emmett O’Rahilly, 8.Ricky Tobin, 9.Joey Walker, 10.Josh Chalk, 11.Matt Blake, 12.Richard Henderson, 13.James Whiting, 14.Jerry Downey, 15.James Layzell
Replacements: 16.Dan Stephens, 17.Sam Jenkins, 18.Dan Crook

Match details

Match date

Sat 21 Feb 2015

Kickoff

14:30

Competition

Sussex 'Canterbury Jack' Intermediate League
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Club Sponsor - Thakeham
Club Sponsor - Benchmark Capital
Team sponsor - Red River Solutions
Club Sponsor - Gardner & Scardifield
Club Sponsor - Christ's Hospital