24 pictures of Horsham Rugby Club and their fans on their biggest day – at a Twickenham cup final

Across the country, there was a celebration of community rugby with finals at Twickenham, StoneX Stadium and Darlington Arena.At Twickenham, Old Northamptonians pulled off a comeback in the Papa Johns Men’s Regional 2 Championship Final, defeating Horsham 40-35, having trailed 21-7 at the break.Backed bya noisy and colourful band of around 1,000 fans, Horsham gave their all at the end of a season when they also won their league.

Horsham started the game strongly with scrum-half Aaron Linfield crossing the line after a few minutes for a try converted by Oli Chennell. Old Northamptonians hit back quickly with a score of their own from No8 Luke Bond, who powered over to level the scores at 7-7 after 10 minutes.

Horsham then found a purple patch in the second quarter of the match scoring twice, first through Richard Tredgett after several phases following a Declan Nwachukwu break and then flanker Jordan Smith after several dominant forward drives, both converted by Chennell to take a 21-7 half time lead.

But Old Northamptonians were not going to rollover for their opponents and found a second gear as they scored 26 points without reply scoring four tries from Jake Diggin, Rory Seymour and two from Joel Grayson, son of England legend Paul Grayson, who was the difference between the sides to take a 33-21 lead with just 10 minutes left on the clock.

Horsham scored another try to give themselves a chance when Ed Mannhardt went over after a searing break by Joe Blake, but then Grayson completed his hat-trick with the try of the match as he wriggled out of two tackles, rounded a third and accelerated through the gap to score.

There was still time for Horsham to gain some scoreline respectability with a consolation score from Jonny Goward in a frantic last few minutes.

We'll have a report and reaction in the County Times on Thursday and on this website during the week but for now here are the best of the pictures from the big day, most taken by Darryl Sears of DAS Sports Photography with some from Leo Wilkinson Photography.