Horsham 10 Haywards Heath 27
Horsham found it difficult to contain a well motivated Heath side who had some powerful runners.
Horsham kicked off and although new recruit Lewis Townsend was up quick to make the first tackle, Heath were soon able to pressurise the Horsham defence. After Horsham had missed a chance to clear, the Heath fly half made the first of several powerful runs down the right and back between the posts for the opening try. Horsham fared little better after the restart choosing to kick a penalty to touch and then conceding possession. Whilst the Horsham forwards were succesful in winning their scrums, the backs found it difficult to gain ground from the resulting ball as Heath were quickly up forcing them to run across the pitch. By contrast, the big Heath players ran straight at Horsham and it was another powerful run, this time through the middle which saw the second try scored. Horsham finally managed to make headway into the Heath half with a good run from Ben Davey and they earned a series of penalties as Heath infringed. Heath were unable to clear their lines kicking into the strong wind and eventually Billy Twelvetrees saw an opening and nipped in to score. Tackles from Ed Mardle and Greg Holt were not enough to prevent Heath scoring again to restore their lead but Horsham reduced the lead again by half time as Liam Yeates touched down a strong move by the forwards after a similar effort was held up over the line. Twelvetrees was unlucky to hit the bar with the conversion.
Horsham began the second half brightly but still found it difficult to penetrate the Heath defence. Now they were vulnerable to kicks as Heath now had the wind behind them. Fortunately, full back Sam Rice was in good form as he took a number of difficult kicks cleanly and was able to make enough ground forwards to give the team time to support. As the players tired so there were numerous injuries and Horsham's tactics deserted them as they became increasingly desperate to set up scoring chances, kicking and running onto penalties which Heath easily cleared. Ben Davey and Liam Yeates made good tackles to deny Heath but eventually they were able to power through for two further tries and only neat footwork from Joe Davis prevented another.
Squad: Barber, Bell, Clarke, Davey, Davis, Gill, Goodman, Hollins, Holt, Mardle, Miller, Neal, Ordidge, Rice, Scholefield, Townsend, Twelvetrees, Yeates