Surrey Cup - Battersea Ironsides

The sun was shining at Garratt Park, setting the scene for a lovely morning of rugby. After a lengthy discussion about fielding a smaller squad due to Ironsides depleted team, the squad was reduced to match the home side, and the girls won the toss with Ironsides receiving the kick.

Almost immediately the girls in green ran straight through a shocked defence to score. Another quickly followed and it looked like it was going to be a tough 20 minutes to half time! One more try from Ironsides and the Farnham girls finally woke up and started putting in the tackles. Some satisfying hits on the feisty opposition resulted in turnovers and the tries started to come. With a good rotation of subs, Farnham remained strong and clawed back with tries from Savannah, Jess and Emma, amongst others, to head in at half time 6-7 down. Coaching staff remained positive in the face of some difficult decisions and delivered words of encouragement to a determined Farnham.

Poppy opened up the scores in the second half with an inspiring and focused chase of the Farnham restart, dotting the ball down amongst a field of perplexed girls in green. End to end rugby was the order of the second half with both teams playing the ball wider and stretching defence. Notable runs from Lexi, Elise, Poppy and Ivy, and it was all to play for.

Solid defensive pressure from Mae, Savannah and Lexi throughout the game ensured that Farnham were never out of the fight! With it all now to play for Ironsides conceded a penalty just inside the Farnham half. Jasmine took a quick tap and passed off to Jess (just the runner for the job) her powerful hand offs proved too much for the chasing defence and she tore the field up with an arcing run to score in the far corner. The whistle went and the final score settled at 11-11!

The work rate of all the girls today was immense, especially Ana, who cropped up EVERYWHERE! A very proud coaching team this week. Special mention to Elise for dealing with a nasty knock to the nose like a pro!

We go again in a few weeks against Old Reigatians.

Farnham Girls Rock!