Farnham cruise against Kingston

Farnham cruise against Kingston.
Farnham 26 - 13 Kingston
This Saturday saw the return league match with Surrey rivals Kingston, the previous meeting saw a narrow win for Farnham in wet and cold conditions in Kingston. This week Kingston travelled to Farnham where the pitch was dry and fast, although as expected for this time of the season it was not at it’s greenest. The Farnham team was without inspirational skipper Toby Comley who sat out the game with an ankle injury picked up in training earlier in the week. Andrew Bond picked up the job and as usual led from the front with the added benefit of being able to talk with the referee directly as skipper.
Kingston kicked off the game in front of a large Farnham crowd lining the balcony. Some early wide runs from Gabe Hills were defended by Kingston and the game settled down in the Kingston half with Farnham putting the early pressure on. The Kingston team made one good early surge but a last man tackle by Hills saved an early try. On fifteen minutes another wide run by Gabe Hills was stopped inside the 22M line, the ball was quickly recycled and Ben Rubio span the ball to the right to second row Tom Burnham who created the initial break of the line and fed James Corlett who ran through a couple of tackling attempts to score under the post. As is usual now Ben Rubio stepped up and slotted the conversion.
From the re-start Farnham kept up the pressure with another good break from Tom Burnham feeding Fran Meagher who was just caught short of the line, Dave Hurley was then kept out on the other side. Number 8 Pete Daly went over but the referee had seen a knock on from the line out. Kingston then had a good attack up the right, but was held 20m out and received a penalty. From the scrum the Kingston forwards had two drives for the line and managed to get it over the second time, a fairly easy conversion was missed and Farnham kept a thin lead 7-5. Farnham had some more exiting runs up the right, a good chance was dropped by Fran Meagher. The half saw Kingston with a penalty and a chance to go in at half time in the lead but it was missed.
Farnham kicked off the second half with a need to keep and win more possession in the tight in order to release the speed in the backs, field position was never a problem. An early line out was won by Farnham from 5m but the resulting drive crossed the line, but the ball was lost forward. From the clearance the game moved into the Farnham half and ended with a penalty against Farnham for offside. Kingston kicked the penalty and took the lead 7-8.
Coach Barry Warner then made his first change bringing on James Trodden for Gareth Yeoman in the front row. Soon after Farnham faced another positional problem as Chris Penn was yellow carded for dissent. During this period Corlett and Hills combined in attack up to 20m out where Kingston were forced to concede a penalty. A quick thinking Pete Daly took the quick tap and headed towards the line, much to a number of Kingston players dismay as he had a 10M run up before he hit the defence. The attempted tackles were to no avail as he crashed through; the best place to be was wide on the wing and well out of the way. Farnham 14-8.
Farnham kept the pressure on and crept back up field and from a penalty Chris Penn put the ball into the corner. The catch and drive saw Daly over for his second, and as usual Ben Rubio put the kick over for 21-8. Burnham was replaced by Angus Harrison and Oli Brown took over from Ben Rubio who again had an inspirational game. The game was finished off by a wide try by Dave Hurley, unfortunately the conversion was just short, but 26-8 in the last few moments made Farnham safe. Kingston who had put up a solid performance all day and had certainly won in the tight and on the ground completed the game with a last second try to bring the score back to 26-13.
A good afternoon of Rugby played in good spirit and as usual Farnham triumphing in the end. Farnham are now 5 points clear at the top of Surrey 1 with a game in hand.