Horsham’s Wild Geese chase ends in victory
Horsham 31 London Irish Wild Geese 14 London one south Horsham climbed to eighth position with a commanding victory at Coolhurst over Wild Geese, the amateur arm of world famous London Irish.
It was their fourth win in five games and the Green and Whites appear to have put poor early season form behind them. Two tries for Jack Osgood took his season’s tally to seven.
The hosts took their foot off the pedal in the second half after leading 26-7 at halftime with the four-try bonus point secured.
Horsham started quickly when a fine attack from a scrum saw multiple phases and the ball swung wide with Will Bell hitting a great line to finish well in the first minute.
They repeated the feat when multiple phases and pressure in the opposition 22 metre area saw Osgood crash through to score a try converted by Oli Chennell for an early 12-0 lead.
London Irish responded with a fine try through midfield from Henry Fuller which he converted, before Andy Gray restored the lead after multiple phase pressure through the forwards followed by a great conversion by Chennell from wide.
Another great driving maul gave Osgood his second of the day just before half-time which was well converted by Chennel.
Horsham effectively secured the win on 50 minutes when a series of scrum penalties saw the hosts camped on the 5m line followed by a try scored from Joe Blake after multiple phases in the 22m area to go 31-7 up.
These were the last points scored by the Green and Whites as Wild Geese defended stoutly and Horsham went off the boil.
Both sides emptied their benches and it was the visitors who troubled the scoreline on 78 minutes with a consolation try by Joe Srokowski.
Horsham head of rugby Nick Stocker said: “Another commanding performance seeing a bonus point secured by halftime and with it securing the points objectives we set ourselves for January.
“With set-piece dominance, and our forwards on top in the loose, the performance felt composed.
“If there is any criticism, we seemed to take our foot off the gas in the second half and did not score more tries that were clearly possible. Regardless, a great result that
has seen four wins secured in the last five games and momentum continuing to build
“The forwards were magnificent with Rich Tredgett leading the lineout well and the physicality of Mike Tredgett, Jack Osgood, Andy Gray and Jordan Smith proving too much for Irish, particularly when on a roll in the opposition 22m area. Henry Warwick was excellent playing
out of position at No9 while Joe Blake alongside him continues to grow into the 10 shirt and took his try well.
“Oli Chennell put in a strong performance capped by a fine kicking display. The back three of Marcus Condon, Declan Nwachukwu and Will Bell were composed and stretched the opposition defence when the forwards
deemed the backs should have the ball.
“Our man of the match was Charles Newey whose all0round game was excellent.”
This week Horsham play their return fixture against Chichester.
Stocker added: “Matches come thick and fast and it will again be a tough match that will no doubt be another great game.”