Darts shave a cracker at Horsham

Darts supporters travelled to Horsham expecting the team to face the normal tough tight match and were not disappointed with one of the best matches of the season. Following promotion last season both clubs have surprised performing really well in the league and deservedly held 3rd and 4th spots despite losing matches they may well have won. Darts started well and immediately put the home side under pressure going through the phases well but the home defence was strong keeping the attacks at bay. Connor Sutherland made a couple of breaks on of which was stopped by a high tackle and it seemed only a matter of time before the visitors would get a score. It was surprising then when on their first meaningful attack Horsham forced a couple of penalties which resulted them taking a 3 point lead. This gave the home d=side confidence and a superb break was initially stopped with a brilliant tackle but unfortunately flanker Si Briggs was sin binned for entering the breakdown from the side. Despite being a man short Darts upped their game and continued to put together some of their best rugby of the season but the Horsham defence was strong and both sides were putting in some great hits but eventually Darts were awarded a penalty which unfortunately went wide. More pressure from the visitors saw the move the Horsham defence from one side of the pitch to the other before moving the ball left to Sam Allen who was lurking in the centre who took the ball on before releasing Liam Brencher on the wing who looked liked scoring before being pulled back for a forward pass. Darts continued in the ascendancy with strong runs from skipper Liam Bowmer, Alfie Collins and Sam Allen and following some good forward pressure close to the line it was Alfie Collins who forced himself over from close range for Darts to take the lead. 3-5. This stung the home team and they themselves started playing some great rugby which put Darts on the back foot but as has been the case throughout the season Darts tackled like demons and kept Horsham at bay but our experience against has shown that given a chance and they are likely to score and this they did when some great all round play saw them stretch Darts leaving them open on the left hand side for their captain to go over to let them retake the lead. Horsham must have been furious when they had their winger sin binned for throwing the ball into a puddle ahead of a Darts lineout which allowed Darts to resume putting on the pressure and make more territorial gains and then it was Jake Taylor who was stopped close to the line by some more determined defence from the home side. At half time it was slight advantage to Horsham against the run of play but there was everything to play for both of these equally matched teams.
Horsham started the second half well and put Darts under pressure but again it was great defence from Darts who never really allowed their Horsham's big runners to make any ground and combining that with good line speed in the backs they never allowed the home side to get that close to the line . Darts were in the ascendancy in the scrums seemingly pushing the home scrum back at will and they also had a great weapon at the lineout with their driving maul but it was a day for defences and Horsham were up to the task. Unfortunately for Darts they suffered another sin bin when Tom Tuley was alleged to have spear tackled a Horsham player but as with the first half Darts seemed to up their game a man short and started to regain control of the match. With good control through the phases using man of the match Sam Allen to drive the ball on Darts moved the ball deep into the Horsham half and when they had pulled the home defence to the left they moved the ball right to Mike Briggs who ran wide leaving a hole for Liam Brencher to take the ball at pace on the inside to score under the posts for a fantastic score. Mike Briggs converted to give darts a 12-8 lead. It was now time for Horsham to put on some concerted pressure to try and win the match and they came at Darts with real purpose and the last 10 minutes was all pressure within the Darts 22 and apart from one real chance which was stopped by a brilliant tackle by Si Briggs right on the line. There were a number of penalties given away by Darts but as the gap was 4 points Horsham were forced to go for the 5 point try and Darts were able to hold out for a great away win despite Sam Cooksley also taking a team yellow card.
A fantastic game and a great win for Darts against a very good Horsham team where the result could have gone either way. On the whole Darts slightly shaded the match but both sides will continue to chase the top two sides for the remainder of the season and be tough .
opposition for any team in London 2