Powerful display provides Lions victory

Strong running and great support play from the Lions proved to be too much for the opposition to handle with the home side scoring 27 points in the first half. With Horsham 1sts securing promotion on the same day and the Horsham Barbarians securing a win away at Chichester, this meant the day was a highly successful day for everyone at Horsham RUFC.

The Lions started the game with a number of powerful forward runners making ground to push the Heathfield defence back. After a number of these drives the first try came from great play by Lions scrum-half Joey Walker who with great vision saw that the blindside winger was out of position and put in a clever box kick over the defensive line for Kyle Fuller to race on it to score in the corner. After this Horsham pushed on with yet more drives around the rucks and good running from the outside backs. These phases of play resulted in Horsham winning a penalty in front of goal post with fly half Joe Wilde slotting the easy kick over to increase the lead to 8 points.

The second score came from a great break by tight head Kyle Fairs who caught the ball from the kick to storm 30 metres down the pitch. After being tackled the ball was recycled out and the Horsham forwards punched their way through the defence, only to be stopped 5 metres out by foul play from a Heathfield player. From the quick tap penalty Lions number 8, Ryan Grover went over for the try which was converted by Wilde to increase the lead to 15-0.

With morale high Horsham became more adventurous with the introduction of Colts player Matt Blake coming on for the injured prop Fairs with Dan Crook going to flanker and Dan Cass going to prop. Following the changes the Lions played with a pace and intensity with which Heathfield could not cope and the third try followed shortly after a number of drives from the pack with second row and captain Mark Ross going over for the try. The last score of the half came from full back James Layzell after he picked the ball up from the base of the ruck and pushed his way over for a short range try.

After half time Horsham continued their expansive play with the try of the match coming from great inter play between Fuller and Blake, with the pair showing great timing in their passing and displaying a fantastic amount of pace which lead to Blake scoring under the posts with Layzell converting the try.

After this score Heathfield came back with an improved scrum and a change at 10. They pushed up the pace and with the Lions beginning to tire, started to exploit the holes that began to show up in the defensive line, and after persistent attacks their outside centre went over for a try. The next score came from the Heathfield forwards with their dominate scrum 5 metres out from the Lions try line with their number eight going over for the try.

After these two score the Lions needed to reply and they did so with a clever chip kick by replacement scrum half Josh Chalk, with winger Dougie Wright chasing the ball down relentlessly to beat three Heathfield players to the ball for the score the try.

The final score of the match came from another show of power by the Heathfield pack with their flanker going over for the try after good pressure on the Horsham defence.

Lion’s man of the match was Dan Cass with the flanker providing some massive tackles and also being fantastic when pushed into the front row.