By Duncan Singer
On a sunny but crisp day at the Farnham fortress, on a day where Farnham where to host three senior matches (ruined only by Esher pulling out last minute), Newbury blues came to town on the back of a 78-0 grilling by Bournemouth. The Farnham 1XV was wary of a whipped beast lashing out in anger so fielded the prime Angus of amateur sides to face them down. Not much changed from the last Farnham match with power combo Azevedo, Vincent, Franzel starting in the front row, giants Harrison Horner , earning his 50th cap, and Sam Voight in the row and dynamic trio of Haylett, Rai and Henderson covering the loose three. Stalwarts West, Brown and Salmon covered the 9, 10, 12 - with electric Wood at 13. A maverick back three of Wigmore, Simmons and Stevens rounding out the team on style. Replacement of young upstart Bellamy, powerful prop Pickett and elusive runner Sloan and disposal of coach Chisholm on the bench.
The match starts with a kick off from Farnham, quickly cleared by Newbury but it remains in field, a strong counter attack is mounted with the ball moving through the hands before Voight tips the ball delicately to Azevedo who breaks through, brought to ground the ball is recycled to Salmon who rounds off the covering defence to score in the corner. This explosive start with the first try coming in the second minute is a sign of what is to come. However, first a small fightback form Newbury following an offside penalty they kick down field and from a 5m maul they faulter but gain another penalty which they manage to kick over 7-3. What follows is a masterclass from Farnham in attack and exactly what the Farnham faithful wanted to see.
Farnham were looking to move Newbury from side to side and the ball was moved through the backline to Wigmore who finished well in the corner. 12-3. The dominance continued as Farnham won a breakdown penalty and kicked to the corner. The lineout was well organised with the forward pack getting a powerful shove on, resulting in Jonny Vincent diving over for the score. 19-3. Shawa Rai then ran a brilliant line to breakthrough the defence and powered into the Newbury 22. The ball was recycled with gainlines consistently broken with the ever-aware Sam Voight picking up the ball from the breakdown and powering over under the posts for the bonus point try. 26-3. The near perfect half only soured by a soft yellow card given to scrum half Harry West for playing the ball on the floor following a rare break from Newbury. Farnham defended well during that period though to keep Newbury out and got down the other end to try and sneak another score before the break. The driving maul was stopped short but Oscar Henderson was on hand to dive over in the corner. 33-3. By half time Farnham have put their stamp on the game, strong in attack and defense, much improved from last week's tight performance.
The second half started much as the first ended, even down to 14, with Brown effortlessly slotting into the scrum half role, within two minutes Oscar Henderson is able to dot down in the corner for his second after a break from Jonny Vincent who set up his ex-backrow partner well. 38-3. Shortly afterwards, West rejoins the game and a spree of changes with Bellamy on for Haylett, Pickett on for Henderson and Sloan on for Brown. Even with the changes the momentum remains with Farnham as after an overthrown lineout, superbly recovered by Franzel, Vincent does his best Ardie Savea impression to dot down in the middle of the park. 45-3. With 45 points on the board Farnham do take their foot off the gas for a short while allowing the outstanding Newbury flyhalf to set up a try for their winger in the corner the score and adds the extras himself, after 53 minutes is 45-10.
This wakes Farnham back up and from the kick off Franzel is able to rip the ball which is recycled and after a strong run from Harrison Horner the ball is given to Bellamy who dots down for his first, first team try. 52-10. Newbury manage a streak of possession over the next fifteen minutes but are easily repelled by a strong Farnham midfield with gains only made along the wings normally being turned over and cleared. The constant attack does bear fruit as another try is scored for Newbury in the corner. 52-17. However, this is avenged shortly after with a third try for Oscar Henderson after some slick hands, returning to the pitch a few minutes earlier to replace Vincent. 59-17. The final stretch sees most of the possession in the midfield with errors creeping in from tired bodies, the games ends of a series of Farnham penalties leading to a Newbury try in the corner. Small exultation from the punished Newbury team, the final score is 59-20. Great defensive and offensive prowess shown from Farnham with a powerful group of substitutes meaning there was no drop off when changes were made. The Zebra keeps on charging and face an away trip to Chichester next week.
Presidents podium:
Shawa Rai- 3
Oscar Henderson- 2
Jonny Vincent- 1