The club’s Mini Section set the tone in front of a huge crowd with a superb show of competitive rugby against rivals from Chobham and Alton. The weather was perfect with the spring sunshine breathing life into many who had revelled the previous day.

The 1st XV too had celebrated their championship victory the day before. Yet they were determined to put on an appropriate end of season performance and a farewell party for scrum half Ben Rubio who leaves the club for foreign shores. The recovery session was ably orchestrated by Coach Matt Kemp. Following an RFU-defined fitness session on the training pitch, the team took a pasta lunch in the vast marquee set up by John Wickens and his team for the previous day's superb event.

At just after 3.00pm, the Champions took to the field through a guard of honour of Farnham Minis proudly waving their black and white flags to the Rolling Stones "Start me Up".
Farnham began with a strong breeze at their backs kicking toward the “Bouncy Castle End”. Knock-ons and forward passes were the order of the day as the team began to find their feet and, more importantly, heads. Would the Black and White storm break? Securing a line-out on the visitors’ 5 metre line, the Farnham pack drove over the line to give Dean Chiverton the score. Dean was the only squad member not to have scored this season. The omens were good.

The crowd of 400 waited for more. A sumptuous chip through from Ben Rubio set up Gabe Hills to score his 31st try of the season. With Mike Salmon successfully taking on the kicking duty, Farnham were starting to rumble at 12-0.

Perhaps the previous day’s celebrations, the crowd and the weight of expectations had taken their toll. The game turned into a scrappy, mistake ridden affair for the remainder the first half. OMWs are a young fit outfit with an experienced prop providing the corner stone of a hard working pack. They had come to play.

After a series of OMW attacks and some sustained pressure, Farnham broke out. Pete Daly kicked ahead forcing a knock-on. At the subsequent scrum the back row drove for the line. Buster Bond emerged as the scorer. Salmon converted and the teams went in for half time at 19-0.

The changing room is sacrosanct but there can be no doubt the message from the team seniors and Coach Matt Kemp. This was the last half of a successful season of scintillating rugby. The team had to concentrate and start playing the rugby they are all capable of.

The Storm broke.

Handling and pace onto the ball improved and three tries were scored in quick succession. Prop Lenny Jennings smashed over under the posts. A superb break by centre Ed Weeks released Mike Salmon to cruise over unopposed. Skipper Toby Comley, who has enjoyed a tremendous season, used his pace and guile to outfox the opposition. After just ten minutes of the second half, the score had rocketed to 40-0.

The real Championship party had begun. Gabe Hills was freed up to sprint to the posts where he popped the ball to Ben Rubio for his farewell try and conversion.

Farnham’s game heads were back on and their sheer pace and handling exposed the doughty OMW defence.

Centres Mike Salmon and Ed Weeks dominated the final 10 minutes adding a further three tries between them. Salmon ended proceedings with the final kick to take his tally to 26 points in the game and bringing to a close a superb season of rugby and a well-deserved Championship for the second year in a row.

The Squad deserved this spectacular send off. Anchored by a front five of Jennings, Chiverton and Kelleher backed by Simmons and Franklin in the engine room, they gradually reduced the visitors’ power to a point where any tight ball was theirs. The back row of Bond, Daly and man of the match Jason Crabb were released to support the superb prompting of half backs Ollie Brown and Rubio.

Power, speed and superior fitness have been the basis of this superb season and levels of all three will need to be ramped up for next year's Division 2 campaign. For the time being let us celebrate and embrace a new era of Farnham Rugby. Well done Boys!