Following their impressive start to the league season Horsham were looking forward to welcoming the mighty Worthing RFC Colts to Coolhurst for a clash between the top two in the Sussex Colts Premier League. The majority of the Worthing side were in the team that last season won the National Under 17s Cup, which is probably the greatest achievement by a youth team in the history of Sussex rugby. This shows the scale of the task that Horsham had ahead of them.

The weather was perfect, the pitch perfect and the stage set for a thrilling encounter.

From the off Worthing proceeded to show why they are such a fine side. They spent the first ten minutes of the match battering away at the Horsham line, but the Horsham defence was made of stern stuff and Worthing could find no way through. In the end Worthing resorted to taking a shot at goal from a penalty but the kicker was off target and the score remained at nil–nil. Shortly afterwards however, Worthing scored the first try of the match. A long twenty-two metre dropout was recovered by Worthing’s extremely rapid right-winger who proceeded to carry it back to within ten yards of the Horsham line. A very good offload in the tackle enabled a Worthing player running a good support line to go over in the corner. The conversion was missed. 5–0 to Worthing.

After approximately thirty minutes Horsham decided to rotate some of the big men in their pack. Ben Murphy and Max Elliott both came off, having put in some great hits, to be replaced by Ryan Maguire and Vince Everitt. The Horsham pack continued to fight hard against their well drilled counterparts and managed to establish some territory in the Worthing half. Worthing conceded a penalty and skipper Ollie Lewis had no hesitation in asking fly half Joe Blake to have a shot at goal. The attempt was successful and the score line narrowed to a two point difference. This seemed to lift Horsham, who started to play some very attractive rugby. One particular good spell of pressure resulted in centre, Alfie Burchfield taking a well-deserved try in the corner despite the attention of four Worthing defenders. The conversion was narrowly missed and the half time score was 8–5 to Horsham.

The talk at half time in the Horsham camp was all about self-belief and the fact that the first thirty five minutes had shown that they were good enough to compete with a side like Worthing. The second half was fiercely contested. Worthing unleashed their strong backs again and again, but Horsham centre pairing of Alfie Burchfield and Matt Allen were resolute in defence and continually knocked the Worthing players to the ground. Another period of good play from Horsham resulted in a penalty being awarded and once again, Joe Blake slotted over the kick. Horsham 11 Worthing 5.

Shortly after, Ryan Macmillan of Worthing suffered what appeared to be a fairly serious injury and was clearly in a great deal of pain. Credit must go to the Horsham medics, Mick Matthews and Helen Blake, for the prompt and thorough attention they gave to Ryan, which was greatly appreciated by the Worthing parents. Word has it that Ryan has some ligament damage and we wish him all the very best.

The last ten minutes saw Worthing laying siege to the Horsham line. Drive after drive was repelled by brave Horsham defence. Leading the tackle count were Sam Minto, Sam Jewell , along with skipper Ollie Lewis. Unlike professional rugby we do not have stats such as tackle count available to us, but there is no doubt that every member of the Horsham squad that got onto the field tackled above and beyond the call of duty.

With five minutes to go Worthing’s pressure finally told and their scrum half Sam Myles crossed over ten yards to the left of the upright. Sadly for Worthing and happily for Horsham, Worthing’s kicker was having an off day and just pushed the conversion attempt wide. Horsham had four minutes to hang on for a one point victory. Needless to say Worthing did all they could to try and engineer another score but the fantastic Horsham defence stood firm. The final play of the match involved a Worthing player begin tackled and the Horsham forwards going for a turnover, which resulted in Horsham being awarded the penalty. This summed up the ferociousness of Horsham’s play throughout the game.

This was an excellent game of rugby played by two good sides in just the right spirit and very well refereed.

Head Coach Tony Jones was delighted with the win and had the following to say; “I could not be happier with the boys. We knew as a coaching group that if the whole squad played to their full potential they had a chance. That is exactly what they did and they have reaped the rewards. I don’t like to single out individuals but I thought that our scrum half Aarron Lindfield had his best game to date as a Colt and when winger Dale Connellan came on in place of Charlie Best who picked up a knock, he was outstanding both in defence and attack. It’s days like today when all the hard work at training pays off and rest assured, we will continue to train as hard as ever for the rest of the season.”

In January, Horsham have two league fixtures against Brighton and Chichester and the results of those will go a long way to deciding where they will ultimately finish in the league.