London Irish U18 7 Farnham Academy 29

30 March 2008

A mature performance from Farnham Academy ensured their unbeaten record in the Surrey Colts league.  Despite extended periods of pressure with London Irish, dominating territory and possession for two thirds of the game, the Academy came away with a victory scoring five tries to one.

The first three minutes of the game typified the match.  Irish had all the possession and their sharp back three looked likely to pierce the Farnham defence at any time.  But due to heroic defence they failed, not least from Farnham's open side “tackling machine” James Hardy.  The one time Farnham got hold of the ball, won off the top of a line out by the imperious Jack Babayan, they spun it wide and, following a penetrating run from centre Rob West, put full back Gabe Hills in at the corner.

Irish came back hard and but for some poor decision making in midfield by Irish and more “do or die” defence from Farnham, they could have scored a couple of tries.  For the second time in the match Farnham managed to get possession, took the ball into the Irish 22 and won a penalty which scrum half Ollie Todd took quickly to burst through for a try that skipper Michael Salmon converted.

At 0-12, Farnham could not relax. The width of the field made finding touch difficult for Farnham’s kickers and the Irish backs ran the ball back at pace offloading in the tackle to keep the ball alive.  Irish struck back just after half time with a quick tap penalty of their own to open the game up at 7-12.

The pitch at Sunbury is prepared and maintained for the London Irish professional side and so was firm and dry underfoot despite the recent downpours.  This encouraged both sides to throw the ball about – a tactic for which Farnham was unprepared having been drilled to keep the ball.  After some helter-skelter passages of play, the Farnham forwards did get hold of the ball, put in the phases with the big forwards running off the base of the ruck and set up the position for prop Joe Curran to score under the posts. Salmon converted.

The outcome of the match was a forgone conclusion with Farnham now settled in to their game plan and Irish playing catch-up rugby.  The icing on the cake was provided by man-of-the-match Ed Weeks who picked up from the base of a scrum 15 meters out, made yards, created space and popped a pass for pace man Gabe Hills to scorch in at the corner.  The final try was also set up by Weeks who, returning an Irish kick, broke tackles and provided a target for the forwards. They sucked in the defence with a couple of quick phases and set up the backs to show their pace and handling skills to put Dom Parker in for the final score.

“For fifty minutes it was all about defence and then in the last twenty we hit our straps and played some great rugby,” said coach Geoff Bond.  “For most of the game we had precious little possession and spent long periods in our own half.  But we kept working, kept tackling and showed tremendous spirit and did not crack. This team knows how good it is and has the maturity to be patient, to bide its time and then to turn it on with style.”