Hove Rugby Club and the local community all came together on Saturday to support Noah Rees who suffered a tragic accident a few months ago. In support of Noah, the Hove players wore t shirts warming up with the tag line ‘come_on_noah’ and the number 12 on the back. We hope to continue supporting Noah in this way throughout the season.

It was great to welcome back from injury Rob Ward, Christopher Wallace, Ian Saunders, Ryan Morlen, Luke Torres (who then suffered a knee injury, get well soon!) and Rene Pavlides. These players had a torrid time last season and it was a fantastic to see them back on the pitch.

The game itself was full of free flowing rugby, tries for Volume early on from Chris Knott and Jerome Pye were quickly cancelled out by length of the field turnover try for the Socks, carried by Ryan Morlen and finished by Cyprus International, Rene Pavlides.

At half time the score was 2 try’s to 1 in favour of team Volume.

Shortly after half time, Sam Whiting made a break down the left and Max Marshall sprinted in a try for team Volume. With each team trying to catch their breath, Rob Ward was penalised for a deliberate knock on, which Ryan Morlen took a quick tap and ran round team Volume feeding Rene Pavlides again to score.

With both teams understandably trying out different things, the game started to become a bit loose. A long pass over the top fed Carl Buckland in for his first try for Volume and Hove (he has been waiting decades for it!). Team Socks however hit straight back with a try for Harvey Wickens who evaded a number of defenders to sprint in.

Shortly before the end of the 3rd Quarter Sam whiting broke through the middle of Socks and scored under the posts. Both teams now had a couple of injuries but continued to play, at the beginning of the 4th quarter Reece Cavozzi smashed through under the posts for Volume. Socks then hit straight back with some lovely interlink play and Ian Saunders sprinted in for a well taken try. Celebrations were short lived as Guy Patton intercepted the ball on the half way line and went over for another try for volume.

In a frantic final few minutes, Giles Emmerson weaved his way through and fed Ben Anderson down the left who scored in the corner. Score was 7 try’s to 5 in favour of Volume.

In the last few minutes Volume were pressing hard on the Socks try line, eventually their defence buckled and a lovely offload allowed Guy Patton to score in the corner. Full time, Volume win 8 tries to 5.

Some stand out performances were from Harry Nelson, Luke Buckton Taylor, George Davies and Archie Davies. George Brown also carried very well but man of the match has to go to Rob Ward who was just everywhere.

Whilst this was a pre season game the coaches will be pleased with some areas but there is plenty to work on. Head Coach Sandy Robertson said “I was very impressed by some areas, but we know we have a tough season ahead and we can’t play fast and loose all the time, I am happy with where we are currently”.

Hove Senior Men’s continue their season preparations with a friendly against Chobham (A) next weekend.