Hornets vs. Vandals Part Deux: A Referee's Vengeance

Undeterred, Farnham instead welcomed the Vandals to Wilkinson Way. A fine morning quickly turned into an overcast and blustery afternoon, and with usual captain Dan Ross elevated to working with the first team, Graeme Black lead the troops into battle. And a battle it was. After a long introduction with details of his upcoming divorce, the referee started the match. Within the first five minutes the Hornets fought into the far corner, the territory having been earned by an excellent Andy James kick. From there a break from Andy James allowed a determined Ben Crean to crash score.

Vandal's roared back and made some significant ground down the right side-line. A knock-on saw the move come to a halt, but a scuffle broke out and Mark Baines was warned for fighting, the penalty being given against Farnham. Was this a sign of things to come?

Some excellent defence saw the Hornets secure the ball in the 22. Trying to move the ball out, Graeme Black was on the receiving end of a high tackle from a Vandals player and this gave Farnham the opportunity to clear their lines. Great chase work from Patch Anderson and Oli Richford thwarted any counter-attack from Andy James' excellent kicking. Powerful ball carrying from Ralph Philips really helped the team move forward (perhaps his recent reading of Mike Tyson's auto-biography explained some of the anger!).

Two further tries from Ralph Philips and Andy James put the home team in a strong position with half an hour played. This was when the game began to change. The referee had struggled to keep control of the game and it was at this time, that to try and regain control, he started giving out yellow cards. Unfortunately the referee's whistle may have been a bit old, so was not generating the normal piercing tone the players of both sides expected, but more of an inaudible emphysemic rattle.

Then in, not red mist, but perhaps better described as yellow mist, a crazy spree ensued which resulted in the Farnham side being brought down to 12-men by half time. In between the rain of yellow cards, excellent work from the lineout and a rolling maul saw marauding Gareth Yeomans get close to the line, and then Joe Major dived over to add another score. However the yellow cards really hurt Farnham and despite outstanding tackling from Patch Anderson and Rob Brown, the Weybridge team managed to get two scores.

The start of the second half saw the Vandals immediately put the pressure on, but refreshed from the break and with a few replacements, the Hornets dug in. The sin-binned team members returned to the arena of play and the remainder of the half was a turgid affair. A superb chip and catch from Chris Dury was a highlight of attacking play and equally a thumping tackle by Jim Hyman a highlight in defence. Once he was re-introduced, Rory Walker lit up the midfield again with several mazy runs.

The game ended with a victory to Farnham, 24 - 12, keeping the Hornets fixed atop the league table. In a moment of genius, second row player Dan Greene donated two pounds to the referee in the bar following the game, towards the purchase of a new whistle.

Written by Oli Richford