This Saturday Farnham 1st XV made the long, scheduled trip to Beckenham. Although holding a relatively lowly spot in the league, this was never going to be an easy game given this division’s propensity to favour the home side.

Farnham started brightly and the Chairman remarked, “It looked like we would put a cricket score on them.” But that was not to be.

The game kicked off at 2pm with spectators and players alike intrigued by the rare sight of a female referee. Both teams had warmed up well in preparation for a game played in the cold, however just three, the game paused for some time due to injury and Farnham prop Jules Joris (torn muscle) was replaced by Jemi Akin-Olugbade.

The game restarts and Ben Brown was quick to tidy up loose ball, passed to Stennett who breaks through deep into the Beckenham 22. IN the defensive melee Beckenham knock on and the set scrum forms just short of the posts. Farnham held strong in their scrum and the ball was spun from No 10 Ben Jones to Toby Salmon at centre. He cuts a lovely line through the Beckenham defence and dots down between the posts. He successfully converts, and the faithful supporters were barely settled on the touch line, cheered the 0-7 scoreline.

The game ebbed and flowed until Farnham win the scrum penalty on the halfway line. Toby Salmon kicked for the corner and from the line out another defensive melee earns Farnham a 5 meter attacking scrum. No 8 Oscar Henderson picked from the base and surged for the line. Held, he popped the ball to second rower Tom Dullage to complete the surge and score. Salmon T is successful from the tee. 0-14 – a point a minute - and one can understand the Chairman’s optimism.

Beckenham come blazing back and from making the try at one end, Henderson is called upon to do heroic work on his own try line. A high tackle penalty gave Beckenham the chance to score, with the full back Bosch hitting the line at pace with the try line begging – only to knock on.

The game continues with eye catching performances from Dullage and scrum half Ollie Brown who keep the ball deep in the Beckenham half. However, the Beckenham defence held strong and put paid to any number of Farnham chances.

Props of a certain vintage do not prosper in the cold, and Akin-Olugbade followed Joris to the touchline also with a leg injury. Matt Chapman came on and the replacement bench, with only three allowed at this level, looking sparse.

The game restarted with Toby Salmon going for the corner with a penalty kick. This time Beckenham disrupted the catch and drive and cleared the the ball back the hallway line. Farnham tried hard to run it back into the Beckenham 22, but their defence had definitely stiffened since the opening exchanges. The half concluded with Farnham again putting pressure on Beckenham at the set scrum allowing a fresh attack, but this came to nothing.

A superb restart to the second 40 by Toby Salmon put Beckenham under pressure deep in their half, but their half-time talk must have had some spice to it. They truck the ball back up to halfway from where they release their No 15, Bosch – who, fully recovered from the ignominy of the earlier knock on, sprinted 50 yards to score under the posts. 7-14.

Farnham, however, retained the territorial advantage and before long earned a penalty opportunity in front of the posts which Toby Salmon took to make it a two score lead 7 -17.

Beckenham came straight back into the game and split a now tiring Farnham defence to allow Jordan, their number 11, to score out wide. The home support soon had something else to cheer as the difficult conversion bounced off the upright and over the bar. 14-17.

The match now settled into midfield with both defences efficiently thwarting any threat. Those who enjoy watching the set scrummage were well entertained as both sides were guilty of trying that little bit too hard and so the knock-on became a common infringement. Both sides were wearied by the constant battering of a game in which no quarter was asked or given. Scoring chances were few and far between.

With minutes left in the game, Beckenham’s full back caught a clearance kick and offloaded to his support runner on the halfway line. However, a committed Henderson tackled the full back late and a yellow card was shown by the unsighted referee to second rower Tom Dullage.

Those minutes dragged by for the travelling support and the players – not least Toby Comley who was eager to to celebrate his 199th league game for Farnham with a win. But with no further score, the final whistle blew.

The hospitable home crowd did not seem too disheartened by the loss of a game as exciting and full-on as they had just witnessed. As one Beckenham veteran remarked, “This is like the rugby we used to play.”

Presidents Podium:
3 Mike Salmon, 2 Oscar Henderson, 1 Jonny Vincent