On Saturday Old Reigaitian 1st XV travelled to Horsham to play the only fixture in Regional 2 South East as the frozen pitches took their toll on the fixture list.
Horsham have an all weather 4G pitch which is floodlit which provided a great surface despite the freezing conditions.
Horsham have been looking forward to this fixture since their 50-36 defeat to Old Reigatian back in Sept. This remains their only defeat of the season and no doubt they have been looking forward to the return fixture.
OR’s are still in the midst of an injury problems and full credit to two Colts from last year who are still earning their spurs at senior level gave 100% Charlie Jackman returned from Uni to help only to dislocate his shoulder. Some times it was just not your day and Saturday certainly wasn’t Reigatian’s.
Horsham showed their intent early on with their Left Winger celebrating his 100th Cap got of to a flying start with his first try after two minutes. Closely followed by an interception try and the left Wing got his second within 20 minutes Horsham had a 17-0 lead and looked too strong for the young Reigatian team.
Alex Skinner showed what OR’s are capable of when they played on the front foot and with great vision and even better execution he exploited a hole in Horsham’s defensive wall and scored from about 30 meters out. Sadly that was the only moment in the 80 minutes that belonged to Old Reigatian. A great try converted by Lucas Overtoom.
Another three tries for the home team before half time gave Horsham a 34-7 lead going into the break.
At the start of the second half OR’s had regrouped and looked like they were taking the fight to Horsham. They started to apply some pressure and looked dangerous when their patterns of play were played at pace, then one loose pass and Horsham intercepted and ran in from 60 meters and again the visitors found themselves under the posts.
This seemed to take the fight of the team and Horsham gave an impressive display of Rugby that will surely hold them in good shape going to Regional 1 next season as only just over half way through the season their promotion must be almost guaranteed now.
A 74-7 loss to very hard to take especially when the whole squad know that is not a representation of how competitive Reigatian are in this league. With 12 players in their 20’s and three teenagers this team has many years together and shall bounce back.
Old Reigatian will need to regroup over Christmas hope that some injuries clear up and try and return to the team that played with such freedom and confidence earlier in the season.
Team: 1. Ethan Monk 2.Ciaran Nestor 3. Toby Collister 4. Joe Gregson 5. Reilly Franklin-Talbot © 6.Jonny Long 7. Harry Plowman 8. Dan Jones 9. Alex Skinner 10. Harry Serjeant 11. Finn Coyle 12. Lucas Overtoom 13. Max Coyle 14. Sam Turner 15. Tom Woodford 16. Olly Guy 17. Charlie Jackman 18. Dom Smith
