Clinical Havant keep marching on

Head coach Will Knight enjoyed an excellent performance from his team.

He felt they showed they have every intention of stepping up against any challenges they face this season.

Winger Penione Tagituimua showcased his quality by running in two tries and creating another.

Knight said: ‘Thurrock were a good side and came at us in the opening 20 minutes.

‘In that period they put our defence under a lot of pressure but we stood up to it.

‘We were very solid, physical and the intensity of our tackling sucked some of the life out of them.

‘Our physicality set the platform for the win.

‘After that our fitness told and we were also able to show our clinical edge to score five tries.

‘It was a great game of rugby to watch and a great result for us.

‘From one to 18, all the players played their part.’

Thurrock pinned Havant back at the start and opened the scoring with a converted try in the sixth minute.

Joel Knight responded with a dropped goal before Thurrock extended their lead to 10-3 with a penalty.

After this Havant took charge for the rest of the half.

Good work from the forwards worked the ball up to the Thurrock twenty-two where Armundus Morgan drove over from a maul.

Knight added the conversion and another penalty.

On the half hour Scott Morris blitzed his way through the home defence to score a converted try which saw the visitors ahead 23-10.

At the start of the second period Tagituimua put Rob Cuffe in for a try before using his pace to get in on the scoring.

First he intercepted a pass to sprint the length of the pitch to score and then finished off an excellent combination between forwards and backs.

‘Penione was our man of the match and is growing in confidence,’ said Knight.

‘He is starting to influence games and realising that he can open up the field with his pace.’

Make-shift scrum-half Luke Warrington also shone. With both regular starters sidelined the winger was tasked to fill in.

His contribution was very important as Havant impressed again.

‘He had never played in the position before but when I rang him up he had no hesitation,’ added Will Knight.

‘In the warm up he was having to learn the line-out calls and drills but went out and did a great job for us.

‘We are not always winning games in spectacular fashion but we are very focused and clinical.’

The win keeps Havant in third spot, just seven points adrift of leaders Medway.