Havant get the job done against a tough Horsham.

A hot summers day greeted both teams as they came onto the Hooks Lane paddock. A sizeable crowd witnessed a stop start game with Havant never really getting out of third gear. Horsham however pushed the home side till the final whistle, and although losing they gained two valuable bonus points for their efforts.

Havant were again missing the bulk of the senior squad, but saw Ryan Boulton and Robbie Hume make their first league appearances. Hopefully the unavailability and injury crisis will improve over the coming months.

The game itself was bruising and littered with penalties with neither side really getting on top. Havant led 22-12 at halftime with a try bonus point already in the bag. Cam Smith, Jake Hewett, Rory Penfold and Harry Carr doing the damage, carving open the Horsham defence time and time again, but Havant let Horsham back into the game with their 2nd try right on half-time.

Halftime Havant 22 Horsham 12

The 2nd period saw Havant extend their lead to 30-19 with five minutes to go after a well worked rolling maul was finished off by a rampaging Sean Shepherd and a penalty for the umpteenth high tackle from Reuben Knight. Havant's set piece was good, disrupting Horsham's line-out several times at critical moments in the game, especially in the 2nd period when the pressure was on.

Back came Horsham who sensed a shock win when scoring their 4th try making the score 30-26. A good 50/22 kick had them on the 10m line but a fantastic leap by Ross Parkins ended any chance of an upset and Havant saw the remaining time added on out!

Full-time Havant 30 Horsham 26

Will Knight's thoughts after the game
"It was great to welcome both the Navy u23's and Horsham to Hooks Lane on opening day of the season. The Dolphins secured a great victory over a strong RN U23's and have one more warm-up game before the season starts.
In the senior game it was great to get the season off to a winning start and i thought Horsham played very well. We will reflect on the performance because it felt like we struggled to get out of third gear showing only glimpses of what we can do. We were pleased with some of the attacking play and set piece and we will get more fluid as the season progresses. The game was a sharp reminder that we have to perform for 80mins in this league or we will get caught out.
There will be a lot of competition for places next week as we welcome back some key players, I'm sure they will all want to prove a point and get another win."