Horsham come from behind to earn five-try win over London Cornish

It has been a difficult season so far for the visitors but they have enjoyed an upturn in fortunes since they recently changed their head coach and are well equipped to start climbing the table.

Horsham had total pressure for the first five minutes but against the run of play, the ball was dropped in attack and gathered for a 70 metre run in by Matt Hakes for a try against which was converted by George Kimmins. The hosts responded with a try from Jack Osgood after continued pressure in the 22 metre area.

Kimmins slotted a penalty before a great first phase try from the scrum saw Marcus Condon finish well out wide bringing the scores level at 10-10 after 26 minutes.

Horsham were guilty of overplaying and a try was conceded from a dropped ball in the backs on halfway and hacked through for Hakes to win the foot race to add his second.

The try was converted and a further penalty was added by Kimmins for London Cornish to take a 20-10 lead into half-time.

Horsham made a couple of changes from the bench at half time which had the desired effect with a try soon scored from first phase set up play and second phase quick ball was moved to Declan Nwachukwu to finish well for his ninth try of the season.

The bonus point try was scored by Henry Warwick chasing a grubber through from Aaron Linfield after more good phases from the forwards in opposition territory to level the scores at 20-20.

Constant pressure was being applied in the opposition half and it required a huge defensive effort from London Cornish to keep Horsham out until finally a try was scored from a snipe around the fringe of a ruck by Aaron Linfield to score under the posts converted by Warwick to seal a 27-20 win.

Horsham’s head of rugby Nick Stocker said: "Another tough match in the league where there are no easy games. Although we dominated possession and territory, Cornish were tough and resilient with huge defensive character. Having turned a corner in recent weeks, we fully expect Cornish to cause a few upsets in the weeks to come.

"For our part, whilst we were in the ascendancy throughout, we lacked a bit of fluidity and cutting edge out wide where we struggled to get into our flow.

"With a number of missed opportunities combined with two gifted tries, we made life difficult and gave Cornish the additional uplift we didn’t need!

"Despite this, we did improve in the second half scoring 17 unanswered points and secured a solid five-try win. Built on the back of a strong set of performances by the forwards with Charles Newey, Will Fowler, Sam Jenkins, Jack Osgood and Rich Tredgett to the fore, our pressure finally paid off with the result.

"In the backs, Aaron Linfield was his usual busy self and Joe Blake is settling in to the 10 shirt very nicely. Marcus Condon and Dec Nwachukwu took their tries well and our replacements all added huge impetus on arrival.

"Eventually, we awarded man of the match to James Keyworth whose defensive organisation and decision making in attack proved crucial in our scores. A fine game amongst a series of strong performances.

"Next week we host London Irish at home in what is sure to be another tough match. We escaped with a lucky win at their place earlier in the season and they will be keen to reverse this result when they travel to us. We on the other hand want to continue the momentum we have built in recent weeks with another strong performance."