Green & Whites up to task against unknown quantity Hammersmith & Fulham

Their hosts turned out to be an impressive outfit and it took a strong team display for the Green and Whites to earn a 53-21 victory on the road.

Lackadaisical Horsham defence nearly saw Fulham capitalise early on, however their player spilled the ball to see the threat temporarily dissipate.

Horsham managed to gain ground and find Fulham’s 22, ultimately earning the scrum. From this, the ball was spun out wide by Jake Fisher on to Jamie Redmayne, and finally to Will Johnson who was able to put the ball down in the corner for a try.

Tom Johnson started what would be a sterling performance and deftly converted to put Horsham 7-0 at the six-minute mark.

With the sides swapping possession, the ball was eventually passed out to Vince Everitt who showed impressive power, beating multiple Fulham tacklers, before laying the ball off to Joe Wilde who scored convincingly.

Tom Johnson again converted to put Horsham ahead 14-0 after 15 minutes.

Fulham displayed a relentless intent throughout the game and proved difficult for Horsham to deal with.

Persistent attacking and multiple phases broke down Horsham’s defence on 23 minutes as Fulham touched down and converted a deserved score.

Tom Johnson added a penalty, before a Declan Nwachukwu intercept saw him run from deep in his own half to score. Tom Johnson’s conversion took the score to 24-7 on 33 minutes.

Four minutes past the 40 mark, a Fulham line-out was won and they dived through to put down another converted try to take the score to 24-14.

Half-time Horsham replacement Dan Cass was yellow carded immediately for a perceived high tackle. With the man advantage Fulham capitalised and pulled the score back to 24-21.

Jordan Bell then secured an interception and darted through the Fulham line and with Tom Johnson’s conversion, Horsham had another healthy lead at 31-21.

On 53 minutes, Joe Wilde made a trademark interception and ran the ball home for another try with the extras again added.

Staright from the restart, the ball was slipped to Nwachukwu and he beat four tackles to ran half the length of the pitch and scored for a 45-21 lead on 57 minutes.

With Cass back on, fellow replacement Emmet O’Rahilly made an immediate impact, after being set up by Joe Wilde, and was able to put points on the board straight away with a well-executed try.

The final ten minutes was comfortably seen out with Johnson adding another penalty to bring the final score to 53-21.

Horsham: N.Bell, Powell, Fairs, Tredgett, Clarkson, Smith, Everitt, Redmayne, Fisher, J.Bell, Nwachukwu, T.Johnson, Wilde, W.Johnson, Double. Subs: Cass, Fisher, Condon, O’Rahilly.