Coach praises ‘fantastic’ Havant after superb away win sees them dreaming of being a Christmas number one

Havant have their sights set on being the Christmas number one after their stunning win at London One South leaders Westcombe Park.
Dan Munden (red/white) scored a hat-trick of tries in Havant's great win at Westcombe ParkDan Munden (red/white) scored a hat-trick of tries in Havant's great win at Westcombe Park
Dan Munden (red/white) scored a hat-trick of tries in Havant's great win at Westcombe Park

The 34-28 triumph saw Will Knight's side leapfrog their opponents and take a two-point lead at the top.

With just two games left before the Christmas break, the Hooks Lane team are determined to maintain pole position heading into 2020.

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Knight felt Havant rose to the occasion magnificently, producing arguably their best performance of the season.

'There is no doubt about the fact we put in a fantastic performance against a very good opposition,' he enthused.

'In an exciting game we scored five very good tries.

'The great thing about it was that we kept cool heads when we needed to.

'Also we showed that we can adjust what we are doing during a game to suit what is required.

'Our defence at times was magnificent.

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'At the end Westcombe Park had six consecutive scrummages under our posts but we kept them out.

'Each time we smashed them back until we eventually forced a turn-over.

'It was a great team performance aided by superb tactical kicking from Joel Knight to pin them back at times.'

Westcombe Park shot out of the blocks, opening up with a converted try inside two minutes as they aimed to bounce back from .

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Knight replied with a penalty but the home side doubled their lead with another converted try in the eighth minute.

A quickfire brace of tries by winger Harry Carr suddenly propelled the visitors into a 15-14 lead.

Carr struck twice in three minutes, the first courtesy of a bulldozing break by Scott Morris.

Knight set up his second with a beautifully-weighted grubber kick.

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Dan Munden picked a pass off his shoelaces to stretch the Havant lead two minutes before the break with the first of his try hat-trick.

The second half continued to be hard fought and with 15 minutes remaining Havant found themselves trailing 28-27.

The decisive score carried a degree of good fortune when an attempted dropped goal by Knight was charged down.

Ben Chambers gratefully accepted the ricochet, burst down the blindside and gave a scoring pass to the supporting Munden.

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Knight converted from the touchline to give Havant the advantage going into the closing minutes.

'We still had some defending to do but in the end it was job done,' said Knight senior.

'There are two more games before the Christmas break and they are both tough ones.’

Havant host eighth-placed KCS Old Boys next weekend before making the short trip to Chichester four days before Christmas.

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