A truly hard and unexpected game for Hove.

Hove dominated and won hands down last time they faced Horsham, so on Sunday our Hove girls walked onto the pitch.. late again and looked frankly complacent but were soon to learn their lesson.

Horsham came on hard and had scored the first try before we had even woken up properly, perhaps the changing room pit stop after training needs to be changed before the game or something added to make the girls ready from the off. The support for both Horsham and Hove on the side lines was high energy to say the least, leading the way for the players on the pitch.

Now more focussed, Hove replied with two tries and a conversion of their own to take the lead - we were back in the game. Horsham replied with a converted try and the two sides slugged it out each scoring a try a piece with the lead seesawing as a result. By half time it was all very close we had to check the score with the referee, Horsham were just ahead at 19-17. Both sides knew they would have to dig deep the second half.

Hove scored the opening try in the second half moving the score to 22-19 before again Horsham countered with a try of their own to move it back to 24-22 and the game was now Horsham’s to lose. High tackles and knock-ons followed.

After a relatively scrappy arm wrestle of a first half, Hove, in the 2nd half, finally began to establish control of the match, impose their gameplan and show the communication, commitment and determination that they should have started the game with. Now with consistent fast ball from the breakdown, Molly increasingly commanded the plays and moved the ball to Lily and her team mates to attack the gaps created. Resulting in three unanswered tries and two conversions.

Lily (5), Ava (1) and Sozi (1) all managed to get their names on the scoresheet, but not without assists from their teammates like Grace F who made a break and had an excellent run for the backs; and some great rucking from the forwards. Throughout the match and especially in the first half, Hove won multiple scrums against the head, showing all the work across the season with scrum coach Steve is really paying off.

A very close game that we can learn from. At points it looked like our Hove girls were becoming frustrated with each other – but post each score it was pleasing to see them problem solving as a team. What was clearly observed was the strength and dedication of our newer Hove team players who slotted into the squad seamlessly. Special shout outs belong to both Lexi’s who were the most enthusiastic super supporters for the second half of the game and to Aoife, Sozi and Ari for their strength in different facets of the game.

The final score was flattering to Hove as it could have gone either way throughout the game, Horsham showed up and showed real improvement. Final score Hove 41 - 24 Horsham.