Rain, hail and shine, but it’s the Hammers 2s who foil themselves…

The poor weather was a distant memory at the point of the boys running out into beautiful sunshine. The first half kicked off with The Bastards receiving, a smart exit and they were away. Horsham tested The Bastards defence for the first 20 minutes with all possession in the away teams half, the effort in defence certainly hadn’t fizzled out after the week priors efforts, with Russell Wingfield & Hide Matsuki putting in hits left right and centre. With the referee’s mindset on safety, The Bastard’s conceded several penalties in their own half due to the tackles slipping up. With their nippy 10 pinning the away side in, the efforts in the lineout defence from the forwards stole enough ball to dampen the Horsham onslaught and kept us in the game at 0-0. The first quarter was out of the way, The Bastard’s were feeling motivated with their defensive shift of keeping out the boys in green and white and the grit in their teeth to stick it to their defence. A penalty was won inside Horsham’s half and Joel Mariner’s trusty left boot from hand stuck The Bastard’s 10 metres out from their try line. The ball was caught by Hide in the lineout and Thursday nights maul practice paid off as the ball was quickly transferred back to 8 Will Miller and bundled over the try line. 0-5.

The Bastard’s now had their tails up, however their discipline was still an issue with persistent penalties leading to an Ollie Peebles yellow card. The away side continued their positive rugby and holding Horsham in risk free areas of the pitch with one less player. Lineouts remained solid and the front row were holding their own against a sizeable Horsham 1-3. Half-time called.

The message from Nugget and captain Jack Watters was to keep the intensity, get more ball in hand and play in the right areas as Horsham were unable to cope.

The second half saw the intensity was certainly maintained, Tom Hanks’ tempo at the ruck kept the likes of Dan Whitaker and Jack Watters punching up the middle in Horsham’s 22, an overlap was noticed on the blindside and the ball was fizzed wide to 15 Morgan Churchill who dotted down in the corner. 0-10. Horsham were not rolling over, they stuck the ball deep in the away sides half and forced the ball to be played out with their solid work over the ball. Some beautiful hands were played on The Bastard’s 10 metre line and a half break was created with a smart offload, leaving the outside backs to dart down the wing getting caught 10 metres out, a final offload was made at pace to Jack Watters who had the legs to get over the line. Credit to Russell ‘The Horse’ Wingfield for keeping up with the backs desperate to get in on the action. 0-15.

This is where The Bastard’s became complacent, the ball was returned scrappily off kick off to the boys in red, leading to an eventual knock on and the size of Horsham’s pack were getting the upper hand in the scrum. Good exits were made and The Bastard’s found themselves on the halfway with a linout, a few phases were played and a gap was spotted by 10 Joel Mariner who passed inside to Seb Rivett who lined up the two on one and passed back inside to Joel, who ran into space and passed to Jack Watters finding himself on the wing, just getting scragged 5 metres out, the ball was recycled and passed short to Seb Rivett again who was just held up over the line. Bonus point try denied and salt in the wound to come. Upon the ref calling “held up” one of the Horsham backs went quickly and drop kick the ball 5 metres to themself, very good hands meant they were away galloping deep into The Hammer’s half and scoring in the corner. 5-15. A real knife twist after the bonus point try denial.

The Bastard’s didn’t panic, they returned the ball from kick off to Horsham who played smart rugby and worked their way into the away sides half as the defensive shift continued however at a fatigued rate with small halfbreaks and slipping up tackles being made eventually leading to the home side scoring again. Conversion was scored. 12-15.

The offensive rugby from Horsham continued and The Bastard’s grip on the game was slipping due to lack of possession and momentum, Horsham used their big substitutes well and their new energy punched further holes in The Hammer’s defence, a yellow card was given for repeated infringements and the away side found themselves with 14 men again. Horsham capitalised on this and the tired bodies, scoring again. 17-15.

The Bastard’s failed to find their extra gear, reminiscent of Eastenders Ian Beale’s weeps of “I’ve got nothing left”. Horsham dug deep and used their subs well to find weak shoulders leading to smart passing and finding the space on the wing where their evasive winger stepped though the defence 15 metres out and hammered the final nail in the coffin under the posts with a successful conversion.

Final score 24-15 to Horsham.

Credit to Horsham who showed real determination to stick in the game and play some fantastic rugby. Hopefully this reports shows the real positives of rugby as the game ebbed and flowed. Sadly The Bastards didn’t have enough in the tank and discipline cost them. Eyes move onto Tour and the final game of the season away to Sutton on 6th April.