Farnham U12 Chiefs vs Chobham U12 Chiefs

Match Report by Dorian Soanes

From the kick off Farnham looked to have slight dominance.

The captain Archie Walls playing at centre was imperious in attack and defence where he rarely gave
an inch and carried the team forward with him.

Ethan & Stanley gave many quality balls from the base of the scrum into Joe’s hands who directed
the game to either Archie or Ted running good lines.

Despite this it was clear that possession was going to be an issue, a theme that came to haunt
Farnham later in the game. This was exemplified by a good early carry by Dylan with back handed
offload to James Wild running an excellent line, to gain many meters, only to be lost on the ground.

Many good carries like this went to waste.

However, Farnham were winning the running game culminating in a Dylan breaking multiple tackles
on the wing and running over half the pitch to score Farnham’s opening try.

Chobham came back immediately and had many advances towards the Farnham try line thwarted by
turnovers from Hector and Jack Wright, the boot of Theo and the lethal counter attacks from Taylor.

The first half continued in this manner with the teams exchanging tries and Dylan crashing over from
his second for Farnham.

The first half ended with a Chobham try from a soft defensive error, leaving the score at 2-3 to
Chobham but the match feeling very much in the balance.

Despite a team talk by the coaches that would have had the meekest soul running into the gates of
hell, the atmosphere changed in the second half.

Chobham had intelligently elected to play to where they saw dominance over Farnham at the
breakdown. This meant that Farnham mounted in attack were quickly turned against them.

Taylors quick feet at the back led to numerous breaks and off loads to Dougal, James and Freddie
that were so often thwarted on the ground.

This frustration led to Farnham’s heads to drop and a subsequent flurry of soft tries.

A special mention should go to Harry at full back who frequently found himself alone against a
Chobham attack with the bit between their teeth and never missed a tackle – but couldn’t do the
work by himself.

Eventually Farnham figured how to stop the rot at the breakdown through the hard work of
forwards like Tom, Jack, Hector and Dylan but alas it was too late.

A late interception by Theo who read the opposition attack like a book and looked like a consolation
try was shut down by a Chobham defence who were now playing with the confidence of a team with
clear daylight between them and the opposition.

The game finished at 7 Chobham tries to 2 Farnham and it should be noted that Chobham have
another ‘mixed’ waterfall cup team who were playing Wimbledon on the adjacent pitch and beat
them by 17 tries to 2!

So though there maybe no shame in losing to a quality opposition – Farnham should remember they
were competitive in the first half and can reflect on what it would take to beat a side like this in the
future.