Leaders hang on to thwart H&B

But the luck of the bounce, and a refereeing performance that denied H&B a flawless try by the posts, let Horsham off the hook and consigned H&B to a wait-and-see role in the promotion stakes.

To be sure there were errors galore from both sides, but the treacherous sloping pitch, greasy conditions and gusting wind accounted for many of them. There were turnovers, forced and unforced, on both sides, H&B sometimes tried to carry the ball a metre too far and got dispossessed, their powerful mauls sometimes tried one drive too many, and their uncharacteristic kicking from hand was too often either badly executed or ill-judged.

But their overall performance had the passion and determination sometimes missing in the previous two games.

The pack, still missing Paul Sandeman, fronted up well as a unit, holding their own in the set piece and working hard at the breakdown, Steve MacManus as usual clearing up bravely at the back of the scrum, Pete Mahoney a powerhouse, and man-of-the-match Roger Roberts bringing focussed dynamism at the coalface, while Ben Davies had a good day throwing in. Some excellently-controlled rolling mauls only failed to lead to scoring positions because they attempted one last drive too many and got turned over.

Behind the scrum, new signing Alistair Coombe made his first start at full-back, allowing Piers Claughton, Jimmy Adams and Matt Harboard to revert to their more accustomed positions, while skipper Kit Claughton took the field still suffering the effects of a midweek virus.

Both sides started as if they meant it, but the first score came as a result of trickery. As an H&B player ran a ball out of his 22, the Horsham skipper who was behind him called for the ball. He got the pass, moved the ball on, and Horsham cantered in unapposed for a seven pointer. It was a ploy the same player used twice more in the game, without additional success, at one point calling the H&B player by name.

Five minutes later a charged down chip by David Northen during a Horsham attack saw him gather the ball and gallop in under the posts, the conversion also being charged down to leave H&B 7-5 down.

Some good ball movement in the backline culminated in a powerful break by Coombe, who moved it down the line, and from the breakdown Adams muscled to the tryline to put the visitors ahead 7-10.

H&B failed to claim the ball from the resultant restart - a recurrent and costly problem - and though they won a penalty in their 22, they failed to find touch, conceded a lineout on their five metre line, and Horsham rumbled the ball over for a pushover try.

Horsham were now making use of their slope advantage, and a further try was only saved by a brilliant piece of power and skill by Piers Claughton, who race up and caught his opposite number over the tryline and managed to rob him of the ball. But from another subsequent lineout, Horsham repeated their catch and drive routine, and the half-time whistle came with H&B trailing 17-10.

The second half, though to and fro like the first half, saw H&B gradually claw their way into the driving seat, and they eventually got their reward with Harboard scrambling his way to the tryline from a backs move from a scrum near the Horsham line. Another restart mistake by H&B gifted Horsham a penalty, which gave them a five point lead with 20 minutes to go.

Though underfoot conditions and a greasy ball kept the game from flowing as smoothly as it might, both teams looked ceaselessly for the decisive score, fine tackling - notably for H&B a try-saver from Ben Campbell - cancelling out both teams' attacks. Horsham, as they had all game, concentrated their ambitions largely on the cross-field kick and chase, while H&B looked most in control when they kept the ball in hand. It was from one such passage of sustained ball-in-hand attack that Piers Claughton broke for the line, stayed on his feet in the tackle, and was driven on by his support to the five metre line, where his brother took the ball off him and dived through defenders for a touchdown beside the post. To Horsham's relief and H&B's disbelief, the referee said he had blown his whistle as the ball was touched down, either for a knock-on or a halted maul - neither of which the players or touchline had witnessed.

Although H&B continued to look the more creative and dangerous of the two sides, they couldn't quite cross the line again, and for the third week in a row they failed to win a game they were dominating at the final whistle.

"This week we didn't get what we deserved," said Kit Claughton. ""We scored as many tries as them, but we didn't have our kicking boots on, and it came down to penalties and mistakes at key moments.

"The pack really upped their game, which was encouraging. But there's no doubt we're going through a mini-crisis. We have to win these close games at the top, not just deserve to win. The weeks before and after Christmas are going to be absolutely vital to us as a team. This is where we show our character and decide our future."

Team: Todd, Davies, P. Northen (Roche), Sheppard, Mahoney (Redman), Roberts, Hitch, McManus, P. Claughton, K. Claughton, Harboard, Adams, D. Northen, Campbell (Eason), Coombe.