Horsham beat London Cornish and the weather to claim first league win

Heavy rain fell throughout the game and at times handling the ball was a lottery.

There was however a welcome return to the side after injury for last season’s leading try scorer, Declan Nwachukwu, who scored a brace of tries in his first game of the season, and was voted man of the match by London Cornish.

Horsham were in the ascendancy from the start and were awarded a penalty in the first minute which Oli Chennell converted in another superlative kicking display.

Fine multi-phase play then saw Nwachukwu finish well in the corner which was converted from out wide by Chennell. Two further penalty kicks from Chennell saw Horsham take a 0-16 lead into half time.

Conditions worsened in the second half as the rain got heavier. London Cornish responded with a try from Mo Alotham converted by Sam Fieldwick then Chennell extended Horsham’s lead with a penalty followed by a second try for Nwachukwu after some excellent multi phase play to seal the win.

Horsham’s head of rugby Nick Stocker said: “A good win in tough conditions with rain unrelenting throughout. We managed the conditions well playing good territory in the first half and preventing Cornish any decent possession in our defensive third.

"The set piece worked well with the scrum in particular proving a good source of possession and with our ball carriers like Mike Tredgett, Jordan Smith and Jack Osgood consistently getting over the gain line, we looked threatening when in the Cornish half.

"The conditions meant we missed a couple of real opportunities to increase our score but with two well taken tries and another great kicking display from Oli Chennell, the overall consensus was a job well done in tough circumstances.

"The forwards to a man stood up well and with Jake Lowe and Sam Jenkins turning over ball with impunity, the lineout work of Johnny Goward and Kyle Fairs along with Nick Bell's leadership, we managed to dictate proceedings well.

"The backs were busy throughout with kick returns and chases along with some clever play when the time was right. Well marshalled by half backs Aaron Linfield and Jack Best and coupled with the cannon boot of Oli Chennell, we looked like we were finally settling into to the season.

"The opposition voted for Declan Nwachukwu as man of the match for his all round return to action and two tries following injury and whilst it was another good performance, given the conditions, number 8 Mike Tredgett was awarded this by our coaching team. He remains a real handful with ball in hand.

"With the league break for the first team, our Lions prepare for a tough league encounter against Brighton next week before we return to play London Irish in the league.

"With our extensive injury list improving weekly, selection over the next few weeks will be increasingly competitive which bodes well for the games ahead.”