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Farnham 1st XV v Weybridge Vandals Saturday 24th November 2007
Farnham and Weybridge have contested a number of league matches in recent years, with both sides having their share of victories, but it was Weybridge who ran out winners at Wrecclesham on Saturday. The final score of 13-28 showed that this new Farnham team are not far away from getting it right, but in close fought league matches greater self belief is required to see the team home in tight situations.
Disappointingly Farnham began the game tamely, with the majority of players appearing undecided about whether they could win this match, and after some unconvincing defending Weybridge scored and converted the opening try of the match. This stung Farnham into action, and an immediate riposte saw an early penalty from Nigel Rooney fall just short, after Rooney was forced to make do without his usual kicking tee. Pleasingly Farnham roared straight back at Weybridge, and further pressure led to more infringements from the visitors, with Rooney making no mistake with his second penalty.
Farnham were now well and truly in the game, but suffered a crucial blow when in-form hooker Eric Gregory pulled his calf muscle, forcing Captain Graeme Black into the Hooking position, and Gareth Yeomans into tight head prop. The Farnham team also fell foul of the referee at this stage, with too many “helpful” comments irritating the official, who chose to penalise Farnham consistently in a number of 50/50 situations.
Despite the scrum now being under pressure, the maturing James Franklin gave Farnham considerable go forward from No8 and Farnham began to wake up to what could be on offer. Following an excellent high kick from Simon Lewis, pressure from Dom Olliffe saw the Weybridge fullback make a hash of the attempted catch, and in a flash Olliffe was on to the loose ball. With support on his outside Olliffe chose to go it alone, and can feel pleased (and relieved!) that he finished off with a try following his excellent chase. Rooney converted and Farnham led 10-7.
In past years Farnham would have gone for the jugular, but with this new inexperienced team Farnham backed off and allowed Weybridge to regain the lead with another converted try, leaving the half time score at 10-14, and everything to play for in the second half. The coach’s message was that Farnham needed to up the intensity of their game, tighten up in the scrum, stop committing so many forwards to every maul, and get quicker to the breakdown to negate the effect o0f the Weybridge Open side.
In the second half Farnham again failed to raise their game to the expected standards, and with the Weybridge open side proving to be a real thorn in the side at the breakdown, it came as no surprise when Weybridge scored a further converted try.
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