Havant RFC just fail to pull off stunning south coast derby comeback win after horrendous opening at Brighton

Having won their opening two Regional 1 South Central games, Havant travelled to face a Brighton side who had suffered two successive defeats.

But the Sussex side made a storming start with Havant conceding three tries to fall 19-0 in arrears inside eight minutes.

The hosts extended their advantage to 33-14 at the interval, before Havant staged an impressive second half revival.

They were only a point behind - at 39-38 - when Jacob Knight converted Havant’s sixth try, scored by Cam Smith.

But there was no further scoring as Havant’s run of nine league victories, taking in two seasons, came to an end.

‘It was a very uncharacteristic, very un-Havant like start,’ remarked Will Knight.

‘It was bizarre, I’m still scratching my head as to how it happened. I don’t know if we were still on the bus, or still back in Havant.

‘It was just a lack of intensity from us, and a high intensity from Brighton. When that happens, there’s only going to be one winner. They came out hard, we were slow, and we were chasing shadows

‘To give any team a 19-point start in eighth minutes takes a little bit of coming back from.

‘But the lads didn’t panic, the second half was much better and if we hadn’t given away some silly penalties we would have pulled off some comeback.’

Ben Holt and Harrison Young went over for first half tries, both converted by Jacob Knight - the second after Havant trailed 33-7.

The deficit was just five points, at 36-31, when Sean Shepherd (twice) and Scott Morris touched down in the second half, Knight converting one of them.

Of the 12 teams in their division, only Maidenhead and Oxford Harlequins remain 100 per cent after three weeks.

This Saturday Havant host Bournemouth, who have won one and lost twice so far.