Smith’s last game ends in big defeat

Already relegated H&B were soundly beaten 92-3 away to London Three South East champions Horsham and they slumped to the foot of the table to boot.

Smith said: “It was tough. Every (Horsham) player man-for-man was probably a stone heavier and they’re all conditioned. It was like watching East Grinstead in the early days of their rise and they could’ve had another 30 points easily.”

With Horsham having only lost once all season and H&B having only won once, you would have got short odds on a comprehensive home victory and that was exactly how it turned out.

“It was a bit of mismatch,” continued Smith. “It was like Hastings playing Northampton, something like that. We completed our fixture list, and we went out and gave it everything we’ve got, but we fell short.

“We didn’t have too many phases and we didn’t control the ball. We were putting more numbers into the breakdown than them and being turned over. The last 20 minutes we were bouncing off tackles and couldn’t hold them.”

Without retired half-backs Kit and Piers Claughton, H&B have struggled to make the step up following their promotion from Kent One last term and all of their last 17 fixtures ended in defeat.