A dry, but bitterly cold afternoon at Wilkinson Way welcomed Wimborne on Saturday to league leaders Farnham. Among the spectators were over 100 guests for the pre-match reunion lunch, with this week’s focus on the 2010s – present players, friends and families who all seemed to enjoy a terrific afternoon of rugby, memories and laughter. The club continues their 50th anniversary celebrations with the final reunion lunch for the Vets, Touch, & Women’s cohort on March 22nd.

Farnham were on the back foot immediately as Wimborne were on the right side of the referee to win some early penalties and with less than a minute gone, Wimborne took advantage and went 0-3 up. The visitors retained the ball well and strung some solid phase play together, with equally minimal risk and minimal imagination, but it was effective. Eventually Farnham have some possession, and Jonny Vincent breaks away and shrugs off several tackles before offloading to Oscar “50th cap today” Henderson, who makes further inroads, before the ball is recycled out wide for flyer Wigmore to go over in the corner. Difficult conversion is wide, 5-3.

Farnham gather the restart, exit well and cause confusion in the Wimborne backfield, eventually hacking the bobbling ball on into the visitors 22 and force an attacking scrum. The Wimborne defensive is resilient and repels attack atfer attack, but, a now-almost-trademark a tribute of Farnham’s play, patience is duly rewarded after numerous phases and multiple contributions from 1 – 15, Jonny Vincent gets the score. Easy extras for Salmon to covert, 12-3.

Wimborne come back strong and make a break from their half deep into Farnham territory and look for all money like they’re in for a score, but a superb covering tackle from Wigmore denies them any reward as their winger is bundled into touch. Farnham exit well and put Wimborne under pressure and win a penalty. Kick to the corner, catch and drive, another try, another for Jonny Vincent. Trust the process, back your set piece and enjoy the outcome, all too easy at the moment. Another tricky conversion doesn’t come back enough, 17-3 to the home side. Joe Wood is nursing a knock and comes off for Reece Stenne? makes his return a?=er some ?me out with injury, much to the delight of the home support, and almost a gentle grin from father, Farnham Stalwart, and everyone’s choice of ul?mate dream-team Farnham manager, Gary Stennett.
Wimborne find some success up the middle and then spot a gap up the le? flank and must score here, a walk-in, surely?! No. Final pass is butchered, and another chance has gone begging, they should know that you don’t get many against Farnham, especially at home and will rue that missed opportunity. A few exchanges in midfield and that’s the half, Wimborne there in parts but ul?mately not clinical, Farnham pa?ently ruthless and have taken 3 scores from 3 visits to the opposi?on 22. 17-3.
The second half kicks off with Wimborne looking to get back into the fixture, a lot of tough phases, grinding short carries, but dogged defence from Farnham, with the middle of the park ge?ng heavier and heavier underfoot. The visitors make their way into the Farnham 22 and win a couple of back-to-back penal?es and eventually decided to take 3 points to bring the score to 17-6. Wimborne come back again a?er the restart and test Farnham’s defensive resolve. The home side respond well and withstand the barrage in their 22 and eventually win a turnover through Jonny Vincent, with Toby Salmon pu?ng the subsequent penalty deep in to touch to give Farnham some respite and now
an a?acking lineout 10 or so metres from the Wimborne try line.
The lineout goes well and the ball is recycled through a couple of big carries from Voight and Horner, before being moved to the electric Ben Stevens who rounds his man and feeds Stenne?, who in turn, shimmies, bounces off a tackle and scores. Bonus point secured, tough extras missed, but 22-6 to the home side. Long way back for Wimborne now. Jonny Vincent coming off a?er a top a?ernoon’s work, Banks-Thompson comes on and immediately makes an impact with a textbook chop tackle, much to the delight of the home supporters. Voight now makes way for Bellamy to add some fresh legs and gusto.
Farnham disrupt Wimborne’s lineout a?er the restart and exit well. Wimborne star?ng to throw cau?on to the wind and rush passes, to which Farnham sniff blood and are pressuring everywhere, they force a knock on and Joe Wigmore brilliantly gathers to race away and provides Oscar Henderson with a walk in and he duly accepts and swan-dives over. Salmon struggling in the claggy ground to get some decent purchase and pulls the conversion wide, 27-6.
A bit of back and forth in the next 10 minutes or so, with a lot of knock ons and re-set scrums, ?red players and a heavy pitch not helping the development of any flowing rugby in the final quarter. Farnham put boot to ball and Wimborne are at sixes and sevens at the back, end up touching the ball in goal for a 5m drop out. Farnham run it back, hun?ng for another score and win a penalty – tap and go inbound, mul?ple phases, that pa?ence again, nothing rushed, through the phases and then great hands and ?ming of the pass for Ben Stevens to release Wigmore who scores out wide again untouched. This ?me Salmon nails the conversion from out wide and its 34-6.

Again, messy final 5 to 7 minutes with both sides trying to run it and end up with knock ons and scrums, with the game gradually dri?ing to a conclusion. Wimborne put a specula?ve kick through and Farnham fail to deal with it effectively, with the visitors gettng a scrum and they managed to power over through several robust, gritty carries. Fair play to the visitors for fighting to the end and gettng a try, it is converted too and 34-13 reads the scoreboard.

After the restart, the ball is knocked on and the final whistle sounds. A strong performance from the home side and a comfortable win really. Farnham were clinical when they had opportuni?es and could have had 2 or 3 more scores, but showed resilience in defence and consistency in their process to manage the game in the right areas. Final score 34-13. There are just 5 games le? for the league leaders, with 4 of them being away, starting next week with the rearranged trip to North Dorset.

Players Podium:
3 – Joe Wigmore
2 – Jonny Vincent
1 – Harrison Horner