A strong finish saw Lewes Colts home against a quality Horsham side

Firstly wasn’t it wonderful to be back on a pitch at last playing ‘proper’ rugby – good for the body and soul in these strange times.

I think we had a squad of 25 to choose from on the day, all of whom got good game time and contributed well to the cause. From a coaches point of view it’s great to have such a wealth of talent available.

We were meant to be playing Pulborough but they dropped out the night before and we managed to pick up Horsham who had been due to play a side from Surrey which are now in tier 4. Horsham are a top side in any ones book and have been county champions at this age group for the last 2 years. We were playing under the new Stage E rules, so basically no mauls or scrums and I thought the lads were fantastic in adapting so quickly. It still felt like the real thing watching from the sides and created a fast and furious game played at a frenetic, lung bursting pace.

We started well, dominating possession and camped down in their 22 before putting away a lovely 3 on 2 in the corner when the space eventually came – making all those training drills worthwhile. The forward pack were strong at the breakdown but slowly Horsham fought their way back into it in the second & third quarter, with 2 tries of their own and a penalty to a penalty and classy intercept try from us.

So going into the final 20 minutes we were 16-15 up with the honours pretty even at this stage. We finished as strongly as we started and 2 more eye catching breakaway tries saw us home by 28 point to 15 in front of a good sized, enthusiastic crowd.

It was great to finally see what this talented, committed bunch are capable of and let’s hope we get to see more of the same in the 10 or 11 fixtures that Nigel has arranged for the rest of the season.

Stay safe and well, have as good a Christmas as you can and hopefully we will see you all early in the New Year. In the meantime we can all bask in the glory that comes from watching and winning a great game of rugby!