West Sussex Festival leaves Coach Red Faced.

For once the group draw favoured Horsham as they faced Jersey, Crawley 'b' and Pulborough 'b' in the West Sussex festival.

First up were the unknown quantity of Jersey and it was a great game. Horsham seemed to have picked up from where they left off from a good session on Wednesday with a noticeable improvement in their defensive application. Jersey were a well organised team who presented Horsham with the type of defence they'd previously struggled to unlock. But with the game poised at 2-2 following two fine team efforts finished by Max it looked set for a draw. Sadly despite all their effort the touchline played a big part and gave Jersey one last go at the Horsham line which they didn't spurn. 3-2.

Pulborough 'b' were next and despite some strong individual performances from them they couldn't stop Horsham from producing a 6-0 win. Another two for Max along with George, Louis, Aidan and Kai all getting on the score sheet.

The last group game was against Crawley 'b'. They had some of the biggest lads we'd ever played against but the boys went about the task of stopping them with gusto and bravery. This was epitomised by the tackle of the day for me from Billy with a textbook 'axe' tackle which took him straight to the deck. A 5-2 win for Horsham with scores from Billy, Max, Harvey, Louis and Kai.

So on to the Plate competition, with a tough game against the physical Chichester 'a' team. A try in the first half by Max, in response to Chichesters first score saw the game poised. A steal and break by Max early in the second half saw the Horsham support holding their breath urging him on. A tremendous chase from Chichester stopped a score and with no support on hand the defence rallied. I think this was the turning point. Chichester ran out 4-1 winners and left Horsham with no chance of a trophy.

We thought at this point it was all over and handed out the certificates only to be told we had another game against Worthing 'b' who had beaten our 'b' team at Pulborough two weeks ago. No chance of a repeat this time as we won comfortably 3-1. Max, Nick and Harvey scoring.

Reflecting back on the day made me think about how well the boys had played. We've still got a few festivals left and I'm looking forward to them all.

Also next time I should take my wife's advice and wear some suntan lotion!