Great win for Darts in a tense thriller

Apologies for the late publishing of the match report which was due to the author being tired and emotional after an active evening at the quiz night after the match and failing to save the report when first wriitten on the website.
The tough games keep on coming and they weren't going to be any tougher than title favourites Horsham. Top of table Horsham were unbeaten and playing great rugby and turned up at Bourne Rd with a big team hoping to gain revenge for twice losing to Darts last season. Darts started well putting in some great tackles and putting pressure on the visitors but gave away what was to be the first of many penalties. The kick by the visitors missed touch and froom the resulting attack darts were awarded a penalty. From the lineout Sam Allen took the catch and from a great driving maul it as the ever impressive Si Briggs who went over to give the home side a 5-0 lead. Direct from the kick off Horsham pressured Darts and their big forwards drove the ball on and forced a penalty but the kick was narrowly missed. Despite the small size of their back row darts defended strongly and were not missing tackles but another penalty allowed the visitors to kick for touch, Darts handled the lineout and drive well but again were deemed to have infringed and another penalty saw Horsham execute a good blind side move which was again defended well by Darts and the ball turned over. A good box kick put the visitors on the back foot but again darts were penalised for offside in midfield. Again form the lineout Darts defended well but were obviously not on the same wavelength as the referee and another penalty conceded. Horsham took the scrum but their scrum half was caught in a choke tackle and subsequently lost the ball. From the Darts scrum the ball was moved blind and Dan Phillips put a kick in behind the defence but was impeded in the chase. A quick tap penalty was taken on and from the recycle the ball was moved to Tom Tuley who ran in unopposed for a try converted by Ciarin Kent. 12-0 to the home side. Good work from the kick off saw Darts move forward and the clearance kick was taken by the visitors who kicked deep into Darts territory. From the maul Darts were penalised again when Ciarin Kent was sin binned for an illegal tackle? Despite the 14 men Darts turned the ball over again and a grubber kick pushed Horsham back and forced a lineout. A good drive looked promising and when the ball was moved wide a mistake saw the ball go loose and a good break by Horsham wasnt't spurned and their first try was scored to narrow the score to 12-5.A great kick off from Darts but yet another penalty gave the ball away and a good chance for the visitors just failed when a wiper kick failed to find their wide man and the ball went dead. Darts had a scrum on the 22 and pressure from Horsham disrupted Darts ball and again a penalty given to the visitors. A quick tap was worked very well by Horsham who scored an excellent converted try to level the scores. The big Horsham forwards were continually driving at Darts but Matt Randall, Si Briggs and Alex Vousden supported by the rest of the team were tackling brilliantly and it appeared that the most potent weapon on the field was the darts driving maul. From a lineout the maul was brought down and another from the next lineout drove towards the Horsham line and when the defence split it was Si Briggs who went over for his second try. Straight from the kick off Darts took the ball and immediately popped to "Crabby" Allen who went through the first two tackles before embarking on a 60 metre run. A good tackle then saw him offload to Matt Randall who took the ball on towards the line before giving the final pass to Joe Bowmer who scored darts bonus point try which was converted again by Ciarin Kent. This was a blow to the visitors who had gained a lot of ball and territory only to find themselves 24-12 down at half time.
From the restart Darts moved the ball in the forwards before releasing the backs and the ball cleared but the kick was well run back at Darts who carried on where they left off in the first half by conceding a penalty which was duely converted to close the gap to 24-15. Darts kicked deep and put good pressure on but yet again penalised allowing Horsham to clear but Darts then turned the ball over however didn't keep control of it and allowed the visitors to come back with pace and power. Successive scrums were awarded to Horsham which eventually became too much for Darts to defend and a good try running on the blind side saw the score move to 24-20. It appeared that Darts were getting penalised everywhere on the park and when a good Darts counterruck was seemingly handled on the ground the ball was moved wide by Horsham and then good defence saw Darts then knock the turnover ball on. A Horsham scrum 10 metres from the home try line was pushed back by a good Darts pack and just when it looked like another turnover the ball was handled back by the visiting flanker. The referee was unsighted and the ball moved to the backs and when a tackle from this by Dan Tempreton under the posts forced a ruck another penalty was concede for not rolling away. To rub salt into the wound a second player (Dan ) was sin binned leaving Darts with 14 men for a second time in the match.Horsham smelt blood and took the scrum 5 metres out dead center of the field and ran another good blind side move. From one of only two missed tackles throughout by Darts Horsham scored another good try which was brilliantly converted wide out to give the visitors the lead for the first time in the match 27-24. From the kick off Darts eventually turned the ball over and drove towards the line but stout defence stopped them short and Horsham cleared their lines. From the line out Darts driving maul was held up over the line and from the scrum repeated drives eventually saw Joe Bowmer go over for his second try of the match to regain the lead 29-27. Horsham kicked directly into touch from the restart and Darts took the ball on again but gave away another penalty and this allowed Horsham put the pressure on again and force darts to concede a kickable penalty which was converted for the lead to change hands again 30-29 to the visitors.Some teams could have capitulated at this late blow but darts are made of stern stuff and don't give up and won the ball from the kick off and drove for the line. A penalty for dropping the maul saw Darts move the ball forward again and again a dropped maul was penalised. A quick tap was taken but fortunately from behind the referee who asked for it to be retaken ,when common sense returned Ciarin Kent took the shot at goal and returned the lead back to Darts 32 -30. For the last two or three minutes Darts kept the visitors in their own half and took the spoils for a great win in a tense tussle between two good sides. Darts defence was superb and their driving maul very solid which kept Horsham at bay. Although the visitors felt they should have seen Darts receive more yellow cards the home side felt that they didn't get the rub of the green during the match.
It is clear that both sides will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season and it is still too early in the season to take too much notice of the result of a match that would have disappointing for whichever side lost. No doubt both sides will be looking forward to the replay at Horsham later in the season.
Matt Randall was given man of the match for his all round display speed skill and aggression.

Next week Darts travel to Old Dunstonians for what will be yet another tough fixture.