Horsham RFC unlucky to lose at Havant – Chichester beaten at Salisbury

Horsham took their bow at level 5, and in doing so created club history by playing at the highest level in the club's 95 year history. Faced with perfect late summer conditions at a packed Hooks Lane in Havant, the excitement of the new season was mirrored by our hosts who had laid on a Captain's Table lunch and a curtain raiser seeing the 2nd XV play the Navy U23's in front of a sizeable crowd.

With Havant one of the promotion favourites, finishing the league in 2nd last time around, this would be a real test of newly promoted Horsham's credentials. That Havant were clinging on to secure the win in the final throes says a lot about Horsham's spirit having come back from a 22-7 deficit and putting the disappointment of a couple of very odd linesman decisions behind them to gain two valuable points on the road.

The game started somewhat tentatively and with Horsham gaining possession from kick off, the subsequent phases of play were error strewn such that a chip designed to transfer pressure bounced favourably into Havant's fullback moving at speed. With the line broken down the left, Havant's backs supported the break to finish strongly in the corner for a try that went unconverted. From kick off, Horsham regathered the ball and with it a little more composure.

Going through the phases, the Havant defensive line was stretched and when under advantage for a high tackle, Horsham moved the ball to the backs who struck down the right when Joe Blake spotted the mis match and glided through a gap to put Oli Chennell away to score a try that he converted himself. 10 minutes played and Horsham with a slender lead of 5-7.

Havant struck back immediately as an error, a feature that was to plague Horsham all afternoon saw the ball dropped from kick off. With the knock on changed to a penalty as a player in front picked up the ball, Horsham had granted easy access to their 22m and despite defending the drive valiantly for 3 minutes, the Havant 9 finally squeezed through a gap for a converted score - 12-10.

On 22 mins Havant showed their quality with a fine try direct from a first phase attack with Horsham's defence caught out. Again the line break was well supported with a fine finish out wide, and with the Havant kicker having an off day, the try went unconverted leaving the score 19-7. Horsham now had periods of dominance with regular entries into the Havant 22m zone.