U14s start the season with a bang

This afternoon the U14 squad hosted an excellent Old Rutlishians U14 squad at Wilkinson Way for the first friendly of the season.

The sun was out and, despite heavy rain less than 24 hours before, the ground was still hard as iron so the coaches set to getting the boys properly warmed up. Our opponents for the day, Old Ruts, who had made the journey to come down to Farnham from Morden in South London looked a well drilled side and eventually the assembled crew of parents and the U14 A squad congregated around the far pitch to watch the U14 Bs start proceedings.

Well the U14 Bs showed their class from the off with an astonishingly composed team performance given this is the blunt end of the season. The crowd could have been forgiven for assuming this side had been training for this moment for months. Charlie Cochrane looked very polished at 10, bossing the game well and both forwards and backs put in a great shift, ably captained by Will Mylchreest who took charge from the off. Hari Tote looked very dangerous with ball in hand and it wasn't long before the Bs extended a commanding lead which was never relinquished.

The Old Ruts Bs took a couple of injuries early doors and their squad was light of numbers in any case so for the second half they drew some boys from their As to bolster their Bs. Despite this the Bs remained composed and kept up the pressure to continue to score some superb tries. What a performance!

The Farnham As were on parade next and, bolstered by a few Farnham boys who'd been asked to play for the other side, the Ruts A team looked sharp, testing the mettle of the home team who initially failed to impress to the same extent as the Bs had moments before. Some ring rust was showing and the initial penalty count and turnover rate demonstrated some work needs to be done on the training pitch. However, soon enough the team began to gel again and the error rate fell to leave the Ruts wondering what or indeed who had hit them. The hits came thick and fast from Louis Thomas, Ollie KP, the Max Pack of Foskett, Parker and Campbell-Harris. And soon enough the tries began to flow too. A convincing performance and a convincing win which usefully showed some weak spots to work on for next time. Special mentions go to our new recruits, Adam Ogilvie, Tom Garner and Oliver Wingfield who all did a great job. Also to Max C-H who played the second half for the Ruts and was clearly relishing the chance to score for both sides.

A part of Farnham's strength comes from the fact that we can field a squad of almost 50 boys and that showed today but with some superb teamwork on show, especially from the Bs, the squad showed strength in depth and talent to spare which bodes well for the busy season ahead.

Thanks must go to the Old Ruts squad and their coaches and parents for taking the time to make the trip down the A3 to see us at Wilkinson Way. You played the game in great spirit and with excellent sportsmanship.

A good afternoon's rugby and there's undoubtedly more to come...

U14b's off to a flying start
by Duncan Mcleod

On a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon at Monkton Lane the Farnham U14b squad had their opening game of the season against Old Ruts

From the outset you would not have known the boys had had a break. The first few minutes saw fast and flowing rugby with the forwards dominating the rucks and the backs using the whole line to probe the opposition. The pressure on Old Ruts soon told with Jake Kimberley powering over in the corner to score Farnham's opening try on the 5 minute mark

Farnham 5 Old Ruts 0

However, after a knock on straight from the restart Old Ruts started to exert some pressure of there own. Eventually after a number of phases they managed to break through the dogged Farnham defence for a try under the posts

Farnham 5 Old Ruts 7

Old Ruts preceded to press again seeing a notable tackle from Ewan McLeod which was immediately exploited by Toby Richards when he secured the ball and drove forward a number of yards. This seemed to break the short period of dominance shown by Old Ruts and led to a resumption of the fast flowing Farnham attacking game

Strong running by many of the forwards and clean handling by the backs stretched the Old Ruts defence. Finally just before half time Lewis Pritchard broke away powering through a number of tackles for a try next to the posts. This was ably converted by Charlie Cochrane

Half time: Farnham 12 Old Ruts 7

The second half started as the first had finished with Farnham continuing to dominate the game

Further tries by Barnaby Swift, Lewis Pritchard (2) and Toby Richards with some able kicking from Samuel Johnston moved the game out of the reach of Old Ruts

At the final whistle Farnham had completed a well deserved victory with a spirited team display . Great credit should go to the entire squad for their commitment especially those helping out Old Ruts.

Final score: Farnham 38 Old Ruts 7

Special mention should go out to Toby Richards for an energetic display by which he disrupted multiple Old Ruts attacks with speed and strong tackling and for his great work around and through the ruck. Lewis Pritchard, Jake Kimberley and Will Mylchreest for their great running with the ball and finally for Oli Waite who performed a tremendous last ditch tackle in the second half

A great start to the new season for the u14bs, hope for more of the same next week...