Miserable night for Havant with travel chaos, bad weather and a defeat

Havant endured a miserable evening as they lost 22-8 to Tottonians on Friday at Hooks Lane.

Head coach Will Knight admitted little went right for his team on the night.

Joel Knight was delayed getting to the match. Picture: Keith Woodlandplaceholder image
Joel Knight was delayed getting to the match. Picture: Keith Woodland

They saw their visitors crowned the Hampshire champions after winning the new challenge trophy that has replaced the cup competition.

Knight said: '˜It was a horrible, horrible night weather wise..

'˜We also had a number of problems with players getting to the ground because of traffic problems.

'˜There was a crash on the A3 which caused a lot of disruption.

'˜Mike Brooks didn't arrive until 10 minutes before kick off.

'˜It was even worse for Joel Knight who didn't get to the ground until 10 minutes after the game had started.

'˜The whole Friday night rugby idea had a totally different feel about it with players coming straight from work.

'˜Our new artificial grass pitch was fantastic but our rugby didn't match it.'

Tottonians built up a clear lead by the interval with Havant's only points coming from a Gareth Davis penalty.

In the second half Havant did manage to score a try through hooker Jerome Trail but by that stage it was far too little too late.

Will Knight added: '˜All credit to Tottonians, they played the conditions far better than we did.

'˜We were guilty of trying to play too much rugby on a wet miserable evening.

'˜What Tottonians did was far more effective.

'˜They had a few experienced heads in their side and an outside half who pinned us back by kicking for the corners.

'˜It is the first time Tottonians have been Hampshire champions.

'˜That showed during the game because they looked a lot hungrier for it than we did.

'˜They came out winners in the 50-50 balls on the ground.'

Havant return to league action on Saturday with a trip to Cobham.

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