Horsham knock Pulborough off their perch!

Match Report by Tony Lewis

Despite the storm and torrential rain of the night before the 1st Team pitch at Pulborough was in excellent condition for this eagerly anticipated local derby between two of the top three sides in the Sussex Colts Premier League.

Horsham had been dealt a blow on Saturday night with the news that their number 8, James Purbrick had dislocated his shoulder in a college match and will be unavailable for approximately eight weeks. A quick reshuffle of the pack followed with Hayden Brock moving to number 8 and Sam Jewell moving into the second row.

Skipper Ollie Lewis won the toss and elected to play into a strong wind. The pattern of play was set from the start with Centre, Matt Allen making a shuddering tackle and the Horsham pack winning a penalty decision at the resultant breakdown. The ball was kicked into the corner by Fly-half Joe Blake and Horsham won the resulting line-out, drove towards the line but the ball was stripped by a Pulborough Forward and cleared some seventy yards down field by the Pulborough Fly-half, with the use of the following wind.

This pattern was repeated on several occasions with Horsham pressing the Pulborough line, but sound Pulborough defence keeping them at bay until they had the chance to clear their lines. However, midway through the half a concerted period of Horsham pressure resulted in Prop Eddie Grogan diving over from close range to score the first try. Joe Blake followed up with a successful conversion.

Horsham ill-discipline allowed Pulborough to kick the ball into the corner for their first venture into the Horsham 22 after twenty-five minutes of the game. From the resulting line-out Pulborough secured the ball and after several attempts one of their big Forwards was able to crash over for a try. The following conversion was missed.

Horsham were unperturbed by this and immediately put the pressure back on to Pulborough. Pulborough were unable to make any headway against a resolute Horsham defence, well organised by Centre Alfie Burchfield. Continued Horsham pressure resulted in a penalty, which was kicked into the corner. Great work at the line-out from Hooker Harrison Gould and a clean catch by Sam Jewell enabled the pack to drive Pulborough back over the line where the ball was grounded by Hayden Brock. Despite kicking into a strong wind and the try being five yards from the touch line, Joe Blake nailed the conversion. Half time score Horsham 14 – Pulborough 5.

It is fair to say that the wind did drop slightly at half time (Pulborough must have it under their own control!) But there was still enough of a breeze to enable Horsham to kick the ball deep into Pulborough territory when they needed to. The combination of excellent kicking and fine kick chasing in particular by Wing Charlie Best, married with aggressive tackling, meant Pulborough spent the great majority of the second half on the back foot. Horsham soon secured turnover ball and a chip through bounced kindly into the hands of Winger Max Patterson. Max dashed down the wing, kicked ahead and had the pace and strength to round the Pulborough Fullback, regather the ball and dive over the line for a well-executed try. Blake followed up with yet another successful conversion.

This gave Horsham some breathing space and they started to play with more confidence. Several line breaks were made and the Forwards started to dominate the breakdown, with strong work from the likes of Sam Minto, Max Elliott and Ben Murphy who is back where he belongs in the Forwards! The truth is Horsham should have sealed a fourth try bonus point but two good opportunities were squandered by the failure to deliver the final telling pass.

With ten minutes to go Pulborough managed to intercept a wayward pass from Horsham replacement Fly-half Jake Donovan and raced seventy-five yards to score under the posts. With the successful conversion the score was now 21-12 in Horsham’s favour.

To their credit, Horsham never panicked and Pulborough never looked like scoring again. Indeed the only likely try scorers for the remaining ten minutes were Horsham. The defence remained solid with Donovan redeeming himself with several big tackles. As ever, Fullback Rasmus Madum made a hatful of crunching tackles.

During the course of the second half Horsham were able to introduce Dale Conellan on the wing and Callum Robison in the second row. It was particularly pleasing to see Callum return after a difficult period with injury. One of the strengths of the Horsham side is undoubtedly the depth of talent they have in the squad, with all seven of the players on the bench more than capable of holding down a starting spot in the side.

There was one unsavoury moment during the match when Horsham Fly-half, Joe Blake was taken out off the ball and received a kick in the face, which unfortunately was not seen properly by the referee. Whilst the referee was aware that something had happened and gave Horsham a penalty no further action was taken against the Pulborough player. Joe had to be substituted with visible damage to his face, but will no doubt be up and running very shortly.

The final whistle went and Horsham were able to celebrate a hard earned but well deserved victory.

After the game Horsham Head Coach, Tony Jones said “this was a very pleasing win. Particularly for the boys in the older year, as throughout their time together they have never been able to defeat their counterparts at Pulborough. It was important for them to finish their junior Rugby careers with a win against their local rivals. I feel Joe Blake played magnificently, as did Charlie Best on the wing, whilst Aaron Lindfield, at scrum half, had probably his best game for the Colts to date. Having said that, none of them would have been able to play as they did without a magnificent performance from our Forwards. To a man, they all stood up to be counted and played out of their skins. There are still many things we can improve on and we will be working hard at training this week.”

Next Sunday Horsham have a home game against Old Ruts and the following week, a league game at Coolhurst in the league against Worthing, who last year were the under 17 National Cup champions. The games do not get any easier!