Horsham Barbarians were looking to bounce back from the home defeat by promotion hopefuls St.Francis for an intriguing contest on paper with Worthing Senior 2. With the weather cold but clear and with a strong squad it was with a good level of confidence we made the journey south.

Now in terms of high tempo, intensive warm ups we are probably not going to be setting any benchmarks for the rest of the club but it was good to see everyone out and ironing the lumps out of how we’d fit everyone together. Worthing were not able to summon a trio of front row so these went uncontested.

The match started brightly for Horsham with the defence working on the front foot. A well-executed lineout set up a flowing backs move. A strong run from Guy Young then an offload to Ben Carbone running a good angle with some pace saw the line broken. A sharp inside pass found the supporting Sam Lunn who crossed the line teasing everyone with a juggle. Further incursions followed with many interlinking forwards and backs, one particularly notable one was a charge up the wing by the ever popular Fubar. Worthing also will rue not converting one opportunity in particular when their No.8 made good ground before offloading to runner who would have made the line but for another top last ditch tackle.

Horsham enjoyed the lions share of territory during the first period and a great chance to extend the lead falling to Chris Mallows who was only prevented from scoring by a good tackle by his opposite man. Ironically following all the good phased rugby Horsham produced it was a scrappy bit of play which lead to the next score. A loose pass went to floor to be collected by Rob Clegg who recovered to find an unlikely route to score the Barbarians second try of the day.. First half complete and on measure a deserved lead for the travelling team.

For the most the second half was quite scrappy, Worthing enjoyed good periods of pressure in the Horsham half and eventually crossed the line for their only score. The Barbarians finished the game with further two trys, both coming from No.8 pick ups from scrums in good positions earnt by the collective efforts of the team. Final score 5-32.

When the final whistle went it was a jubilant Horsham celebrating a good win away from home against a spirited Worthing team. For me the pictures tell more than this report and the Barbarians will need to hold on to this for some tougher challenges ahead.
Really tough this week to mention individuals with solid performances across the team – you and your team know and appreciate the effort. Tom Litchfield was nominated MoTM for his efforts and commitment in everything he went into. Special mention to Mr and Master Parsons for doing the father son thing, nice to be part of family memory and also pleased to help Ricky Tobin on his road to recovery. I am aware that I owe the team a jug of beer btw. I'll sort on the next social.

Next week away at Bognor 3’s, get your availabilities in asap to help Alan!

Rob