Havant RFC’s winning start to the season ended at Cobham

Havant suffered their first defeat of the season with a 39-28 reverse at Cobham in London One South.
Jerome Trail (with ball) scored a try for Havant in their first London 1 South loss of the seasonJerome Trail (with ball) scored a try for Havant in their first London 1 South loss of the season
Jerome Trail (with ball) scored a try for Havant in their first London 1 South loss of the season

Senior coach Will Knight felt his side could have few complaints.

'Cobham played well and we didn't, it was as simple as that,' he stated.

'We were never fully in control of what was going on.

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'Having said that, we were also never really out of the game.

'Though we had to field some of our players out of their normal positions because of injuries, that wasn't the major factor.

'The team we had out was good enough to do the job.

'In the second half we never got enough front-foot ball to trouble Cobham.

'We showed when we did that we could score good tries.'

Cobham took just three minutes to record the first try.

The response from the visitors, however, was good and they hit back to open up a 14-5 lead midway through the first period.

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Scott Morris and Joe Moore scored tries with Jake Reynolds converting both.

Havant then had Darren Bamford yellow carded for an adjudged deliberate knock-on.

Cobham capitalised, adding two more tries to lead 19-14 at the break.

Within a minute of restarting Havant had grabbed the lead back through a Jerome Trail try.

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Seventeen points, two converted tries and a penalty, in the space of 11 minutes enabled Cobham to open up a 36-21 lead.

The visitors refused to give it up and Sean Shepherd smashed his way over from a line-out.

In the end, the only other score was a home penalty.

'Cobham managed the second half well,' said Knight.

'They slowed the game down and stopped any continuity.

'We know that we are in a competitive league and that there are going to be setbacks.

'Cobham is one of those places where we always seem to struggle.

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'I said to the players after the game it is how we respond to setbacks that matters.

'Having a tough game against Medway next is perfect for us.

'It should give us a real focus on what we need to do.

'I am expecting us to bounce back.'

 

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