Following a pre-match pitch inspection the match was moved from Horsham’s First Team pitch to a neighbouring pitch, which had recovered much better from the overnight deluge and was in impressively good condition to enable the match to proceed. This was a great relief to all, bearing in mind that Guernsey had set off at 6 in the morning for their journey to fulfil the fixture. This is something that Guernsey have to do for all their league games and it is great credit to their coaches and players that despite the arduous journey and early start they are always extremely competitive in all their fixtures.

On paper, this looked like it might be a comfortable day for Horsham, bearing in mind a win would send Horsham to the top of the league and Guernsey are second from bottom. Nothing could be further from the truth. Whilst Guernsey have lost the majority of their fixtures they have nearly all been by very small margins.

Horsham started the game playing uphill but with the wind at their backs and for the first ten minutes showed why they are top of the league. Strong ball carrying from the forwards led by Sam Minto and Eddie Grogan resulted in centre, Alfie Burchfield being sent on a strong carry down the middle of the pitch. With quick rucking the ball was cleared out following a tackle and spun wide and a good try was finished off by full-back Rasmus Madum. Madum converted his own try. 7-0 to Horsham.

For the next five minutes Horsham continued to play some good stuff with backs and forwards interlinking and carrying strongly. This resulted in a second try following a strong run by number 8, Hayden Brock. The conversion was missed. 12-0 to Horsham.

To their credit Guernsey refused to lie down and came back strongly. They have some very big players, both in the forwards and backs and used these to good effect with plenty of strong carries. Whilst on the whole the Horsham tackling was sound, particularly from hooker Pete Barry and skipper Oli Lewis, it is fair to say that they did slip off more tackles than is normally the case. Guernsey came close to scoring on a few occasions but Horsham managed to hold them out.

Ten minutes before half time Horsham managed to establish some territory in the Guernsey half and from a strong lineout drive a pre-planned backs move was executed to perfection and Madum was again the beneficiary, scoring a third try under the posts. His conversion was successful. 19-0 to Horsham.

Again Guernsey came back strongly and right on the half time whistle scored the try they deserved but the conversion was narrowly missed. Half time score 19-5 to Horsham.

Strong words were had at half time by the Horsham coaching staff with their players and for the first fifteen minutes or so of the second half Horsham did carry strongly and contest well at the breakdown. The Guernsey defence held firm until Charlie Best, who normally operates on the wing but was playing at the fly half, saw the opposition full-back was not at home and placed a chip over the top of the oncoming defenders. Prolific try scoring wing Max Patterson was able to gather the ball and score near the posts. Great credit must go to Charlie for his game management in a position that he is not used to playing. The conversion was successful. 26-5 to Horsham.

To be fair it was very difficult for either side to put together any continuous phases of play and flowing rugby. This was due to the combination of constant whistling (and resulting talks to players) on numerous occasions from the referee and the poor weather conditions, including an extremely strong wind.

In the last minute of the game a lineout near the Horsham line went astray and a Guernsey forward was able to gather the ball and plunge over the line. The conversion this time was successful, meaning the final score was Horsham 26
Guernsey 12.

This was a far from convincing display by the young green and whites but as head coach Tony Jones pointed out:-
“You did not play nearly as well as you could lads, but the simple fact is that you have won and gained a try scoring bonus point. We can ask for no more. We need to raise our game for matches ahead during March and April and I am confident that we
will do so.”

Horsham Colts’ next game is a home league fixture against Hastings and Bexhill on March 19th
.