Havant Dolphins rue what might have been a great win against a strong Brighton 2's side.

The day did not start well with 2 players falling ill in the first team and another in the second team. This meant recourses were stretched both in the starting team and the bench.

Havant kicked off and an infringement at the first ruck set up debutant Simon Morgan a kick at goal with his first touch. He confidently slotted the 3 points from 35 meters to give the dolphins the lead. Brighton came back hard and used their big ball runners to gain yards and forward momentum, but the Havant defence was excellent stifled their attacks. More good forward play from the away side paid off as they crashed over for 2 quick tries, both unconverted. The first of many cards on the day came in the way of Tom Mew for a late charge on their 10. Matt Whitehead also fell foul of the referee in the half with another yellow for a no arm tackle so Hav played the first 40 with 14 men for 20 mins.
Brighton also had their discipline issues throughout the day. The worst was a seatbelt tackle on Jonah North which lead to the end of his game after just 15 mins. It is feared knee ligament issues but we hope its not too severe. The rest of the half showed some great attack and defence from both teams but the score stayed at 3 - 10.

The second half started with the home side having the best of the possession and territory, but several unforced errors cost at least 2 try scoring opportunities. A concussion to Tom Merrett meant that Hav had to reshuffle with 2nd row Joe Nolan fulfilling his dream and playing the remainder of the game on the wing. With the Dolphins adjusting, Brighton took advantage and scored 2 quick tries, both converted. More indiscipline from the away side saw more yellow cards. Havant finally took advantage and finished one of their many chances with Harrison Davies going over for the score. The conversion was missed. After another incident off the ball, the Brighton replacement winger inexplicably pushed his hand into a Havant face which left the referee no option but to show a red card. Brighton were also lucky not to have received another red card in an earlier incident.

Full time - Havant 8 - 24 Brighton

this was a game full of incident and drama but lets not take away the effort both sides showed and it was a good game for the spectator. Havant will reflect on what could have, and should have been.

Coach Lewis Osborne took the positives but knows there is plenty to work on. 'We lost some key players in the morning, and suffered some bad injuries during the game. There were also many incidents during the game, but this ultimately did not effect the result. We defended very well, had to reorganise before and during the game. Our scrum was solid and we created enough chance to win this game. Our lineouts and our last pass let us down, but these are things that can be easily fixed at training. We take this forward in to next week.'