Horsham 23 Hove 17
Horsham recovered from a nervous start to record their first win of the season at Home to Hove on Sunday.
Horsham took possession from Hove's kick off but some sloppy passing early on led to a Hove scrum. Hove wasted no time in getting the ball to speedy full back Alex Robertson whose run outpaced the Horsham defence. From the restart, Hove caught Horsham out of position and this time Robertson was able to burst through the middle to score between the posts and then convert to leave Horsham trailing 12-0.
Hove continued to look dangerous whenever they had possession but the Horsham forwards began to dominate and started to give the home side opportunities to exert pressure. Eventually Horsham were awarded a penalty within range and Billy Twelvetrees reduced the defecit to 12-3. Horsham grew in confidence after this score and strong runs from Nicholas Bell and Jonathan Ordidge pressurised Hove into conceding a 5 metre scrum from which Twelvetrees burst through to score from close range. Minutes later Twelvetrees scored the try of the match from within his own half, dummying the first player then shimmying and sidestepping several others before scoring between the posts and converting to put Horsham ahead. He added a penalty to put Horsham 18-12 up at half time.
Playing uphill in the second half, Horsham conceded a scrum from the kick off and once again Hove gave Robertson a chance to run at Horsham though this time he was tackled by David Miller mid way into the Horsham half. Hove kept the pressure on, eventually drawing too many of the Horsham backs in to support a maul thus creating the overlap from which they scored in the corner and to come within a point. The game increased in tempo as both sides realised the next score would be crucial and there were numerous stoppages as tired players made desperate tackles to deny the opposition. Hove sadly lost Robertson to concussion as Sam Rice's tackle took them both into touch and needing treatment. Horsham continued to have more possession thanks to their forwards which gave Chris Scruby and George Gill chances to run at the Hove defence.
Late in the game, a strong run from Farmer set up a maul inside the Hove 22 from which they conceded a series of penalties which inevitably Twelvetrees was there to capitalise on and clinch Horsham's win.
Squad: Barber, Bell, Clarke, Davey, Davis, Filkins, Gill, Goodman, Holt, McAloon, Miller, Neal, Ordidge, Rice, Scholefield, Scruby, Twelvetrees, Yeates.