The gusty wind caused problems all afternoon which probably gave both sides an excuse for a dearth of free flowing rugby. Horden were keen to take advantage of their much heavier pack and we struggled to find tactics to open the game up.

We matched their workrate in the first half when we were into the wind and should have been comfortably ahead. Tim Sawyer spun his way over the line twice but both thinks referee Paul Candlish was unsited and didnt give the scores.

Stuart Bennett was in much more open space when he was sent galloping for the line but failed to take advantage of Tommy Barff's presence on his right and was brought down three metres out.

The score finally came on the 40th minute from a set play on the left touchline. Davy Tighe's pass to Phil Wallis was not the best but the young fly half somehow manged to take the ball and fed Peter Hodgson who broke through a gap to score with Davy converting.

The second half was much of the same with the game bogged down in midfield. WQallis did takle advantage of the wind tio put in some tremendous long range kicks to touch but we couildn't make the possession count until the last minites when a sweepinbg from the right saw replacement Paul Moss send Martin Todd facing for the line. He drew the defence and sent in Panda in the corner.

Minutes earlier Peter Hodgson had been in the same position but lost control of trhe ball as he was tackled in the process of touching down.

Debutant Jon Boatman had an excellent debut adding some pace to the back row but he has not yet seen the best of his new teammates.