Horshams Green Lions Maul The Pink Panthers

We were met by the club chairman, at their fantastic facilities outside Utrecht, who welcomed us the the club. After a warm up session the boys lined up against the opposition and faced the Pink Panthers across the half way line as they started their "Haka" which turned into a chorus of "Legs, Shoulders, Knees & Toes"! This set the tone for the day - a club who love to host rugby teams from the UK, play to win but ultimately want to have a good time.
The Panthers struggle to put out squads at all age groups and their team had a couple of U18 players (don't thing 14 year olds have tattoos across their chests & wear kit sponsored by Red Bull & Durex!).
Our boys were really up for this game & played with structure & discilpline which great support play and agression at the rucks & mauls.
Some of our newer squad players such as Harrisson Gould & Ryan Maguire had a great game as did Sam Wheeler at inside centre. Jordan Bell at scrum half varied our play and turned defence into attack with his intelligent box kicks.
It was a beautiful sunny day with and a hard dry pitch & Matt Allen used the playing conditions to advantage with some excellent kicks from hand creating "kick & chase" opportunities for the backs.
There were "roll on" subs so everybody was involved in the match & we played with ruthless efficiency, punishing the resilient Panthers with a series of trys across the 60 minutes with Olly Lewis named Man of the Match.
After a post match home cooked meal they showed their Dutch humour & tricked our boys into playing a couple of games. Calum Robison was blindfolded & bashed on the head by the Panthers coach with a serving spoon & George Carbone was hung vertically off a table & dunked with water - their boys avoided any mishaps! Great funs & these guys are welcome back to Horsham any time.