Havant RFC lose in horrendous conditions in Thurrock – but still extend lead at top of London One South
It was an agonising way to lose a match played in horrendous conditions.
Will Brock thought he had executed a perfect turnover under his own posts but instead the referee penalised him.
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Hide AdFortunately for Havant, closest title rivals Westcombe Park were also beaten 26-17 at Belsize Park.
Senior coach Will Knight felt it was an opportunity lost in Essex.
'The game was exactly what you would expect in the conditions,' said Knight.
'It was never going to be very attractive.
'Not a lot of rugby was played and it was extremely attritional.
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Hide Ad'It was difficult playing into the wind and equally awkward playing with it.
'We came away feeling it was a game that got away from us.
'Thurrock were very good at closing down the space and we didn't manage to break them down enough.
'We struggled to get on top of them.
'The final result was disappointing and the way we lost it at the death was hard to take.'
Havant played with the wind in the first half and were guilty of trying to play too much rugby.
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Hide AdHandling was difficult and the visitors should have more often kicked for territorial advantage.
When they did that on 29 minutes, they took the lead.
A good kick took them deep into the Thurrock 22 and the home side were penalised at the subsequent line-out.
Jerome Trail took a quick tap-penalty and crashed over for the try.
Havant misfielded the restart kick, allowing Thurrock a foothold in their territory.
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Hide AdA five metre scrum resulted in a converted try for the hosts who took a 7-5 lead into the break.
Thurrock added a penalty early in the second half before suffering two yellow cards.
On 67 minutes Havant levelled with Joe Davis scoring from a pushover try.
The scores remained level until 13 minutes into stoppage-time when Thurrock delivered their sucker punch.
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Hide Ad'Sometimes league rugby doesn't always go to plan,' said Knight.
'This was one of those times.
'On a positive note, though, we managed to extend our lead at the top by an extra point.
'We now face a massive game against (third-placed) Camberley at Hooks Lane next Saturday.
'Though they are nine points behind us, they have a game in hand.
'In a way it is a winner takes all game - if we win it will make it very difficult for them.'