Guildford beaten as Horsham RFC's 100 per cent home record continues

Horsham struggled to find any rhythm earlier on and only their outstanding defence stopped Guildford from scoring.

The deadlock was broken on 18 minutes with a trademark Declan Nwachukwu try, finishing with power and pace. Oli Chennell added the conversion.

Both sides had opportunities to score but defences were to the fore.

Horsham second try was well worked, a series of quick rucks, the ball was moved to the evergreen Joe Wilde who dived over for a try, this went unconverted.

Horsham were beginning to get the wrong side of the referee and were providing Guildford good field position deep in the Horsham half.

Guildford were rewarded with their first points of the game with a successful penalty, this was the final score before the break, Horsham leading 12-3.

Guildford again started the stronger and were rewarded with a try from a well executed driving maul, that Horsham were struggling to deal with legally. The conversion was successful, closing the gap to two points.

Nwachukwu was very harshly yellow carded for a very slight nudge in the back of his opposite winger, the referee said it was a team yellow.

Guildford again were able to establish good field position due to Horsham's penalty count, one of which was missed from in front of the posts.

On 65 minutes Horsham's third try came courtesy of Nwachukwu after a good break from halfback Aaron Linfield, Chennell added the extras.

Horsham final try came from a multi-phase play with Nick Bell giving the try scoring pass to Nwachukwu to complete his hatrick and a bonus point, again Chennell converted. Final score 26-10.

Head of Rugby Nick Stocker commented "We expected a tight game against Guildford and so it proved. Despite their league position they are a very experienced side who have a strong set piece that they used well and are quite frankly a team we expect to see climb the table rapidly in the coming weeks. We knew we needed to start quickly but too many early errors granted easy access to our 22m. The fact that Guildford failed to score in those first 15 minutes gave the team confidence that eventually allowed breathing space to fire some shots of our own.

“Our lineout did not function with the same effectiveness of recent weeks and we were painting the wrong pictures at scrum time despite shading that aspect of play. This combination kept Guildford in the game and ultimately it was our ability to get our dangerous runners into space out wide that caused the problems. Declan's hatrick was due reward for the backs who defended very well in the wider channels and were threatening in attack despite the changes in personnel that could have impacted the fluidity of play.

"The younger players that stepped up to play all did well and is again testament to the growing squad depth of homegrown talent we are seeing at the club. Man of the match was a close run thing between skipper Tom Johnson, who is starting to show his pre-injury form, and Declan Nwachukwu who returned to try scoring form with a bang this afternoon. Ultimately, for the threat he posed when running the ball, his defensive work out wide and his ruthless finishing, we awarded this to Dec.”

This week Horsham travel to KCS who they have not beaten in three meetings between the clubs. Stocker added: “We will need to work hard to stop this run of form."