Have Boots Will Travel

Added to the fixture list as a last minute arrangement, it was fantastic to get so many quick (and positive) responses to our availability request.

In all 21 boys took their parents to Berkshire, so not exactly two teams but the intention was to play everyone and so the agreed format was 3 X 20 minute games.

The first game was (on paper at least) between the strongest XV’s from each club and it saw Farnham kicking off to our hosts. Redingensians are a well drilled side and quickly ran the ball back into the Farnham half. Anyone from either side thinking it was going to be an easy afternoon was quickly put right and Farnham put up a brick wall against wave after wave of ‘gensians attacks. For 15 minutes it seemed the two teams were locked well inside the Farnham half – with the hosts crossing our line only to be held up.

It seemed that something had to give and in the end it did – George Bolt making a fantastic interception and sprinting from our 22 to theirs. Support was at hand as he was finally halted, in the form of Jordan Greener who sprinted over for the first score of the game. The conversion from out wide was missed by Matt Carrington.

The final 5 minutes saw a repeat of the first with our hosts firmly embedded in the Farnham half and Farnham mounting a stalwart display of defence. Farnham struggled to maintain any real possession with clearance kicks being run back immediately and very few mistakes from the opposition. Eventually a penalty to the hosts at about the 10 metre line was improved by a little indiscipline from the Farnham ranks and a difficult kick became a lot easier. It is a mark of the respect between the two teams that Redingensians opted for the 3 points.

The first 20 minutes finished Redingensians 3 – 5 Farnham
The second 20 saw both sides making all available changes. With Smudge having gone off early in the first 20, that left Farnham with 5 changes to make and the hosts made 8. The pattern of play quickly re-established itself with the hosts in attack but this half saw Farnham with more possession and more opportunities to counter. The hosts opened the scoring with a fine running try which was not converted before Farnham countered with a maul that was stopped just short of the opposition line. However, it was not long before a Farnham scrum just outside their 5 metre line saw Jordan Frost pick and go to level the score. This one was converted.

The second 20 minutes finished Redingensians 5 – 7 FarnhamThe third period saw a number of minor injuries to Farnham players disrupting our planned rolling substitutions. Numerous players were called to play in unfamiliar positions (Jordan Greener and George Northwood both joining the back row at times) and the defence became a little disjointed. Nevertheless, Farnham opened the scoring with a neat dummy and crossed the line for a try.

The flood gates opened for a few minutes after that – with George Bolt, Jordan Smith, Matthew Carrington, Jordan Frost and Connor Ferguson-Bell all resting from minor injuries the tackle rate went down. Redingensians ran in 4 well deserved tries of which 3 were converted.

The final play of the game saw ben Turnbull throwing in long to Jordan greener running onto the ball who then danced and crashed through 4 tackles for a fantastic final try – converted by Ali Williams.

The final overall score then was Redingensians 34 – 24 Farnham but that does not reflect the fact that we won the A team element of the fixture and the B team element and only lost when the feeling was that we were playing all of our development players against a mixed team.

Man of the match nominated by the referee and our coaches was Alistair Williams for a superb display of defensive rugby and man of steel went to Thomas Brooker for pretty much the same reasons.

Lessons from the game – we have to make our own possession more secure and when we win the ball we need to keep it for longer. All in all a great afternoon of rugby against a friendly club and played in the right spirit throughout – well done to both teams.