Worthing beaten but at a cost.

The final pre-season run out was against Nat2 East side Worthing. Another health crowd witnessed a keanly fought contest with both sides struggling to come to terms with the new tackle law, the referee had his work cut out in the stop start game.
A couple of new signings made their first starts in Robbie Hume at scrum- half and Ryan Boulton in the 2nd row.
Havant had the better of the first half, dominating in the set piece and the lively backs caused the Nat2 side problems. Four first half tries all converted by captain Joel Knight saw a healthy first half lead.

Halftime Havant 28 Worthing 7

The 2nd period was more even, until a serious injury to Joel Knight ended his game with a spell on the sidelines expected. When Will Brock went off with a dead leg, back came Worthing who took their chances, scoring three tries in the final 10 minutes.

Full time Havant 35 Worthing 31

Will Knight’ s thoughts on the final work out.
"Another good step forward this evening. I thought our basics looked very strong and was very pleased with the set piece and generally the defence..
When we had the opportunity, we looked very dangerous ball in hand and scored a couple good tries.
Worthing kept coming and scored a few late tries against a disrupted defence which was disappointing.
The challenge of the new law is certainly changing the game and making the referees very central - not because they want to be but because so many tackles are deemed high.
The injury to Joel looks like it could be pretty serious so that is a real blow. We will see what happens with the medics next week.