Farnham travelled to Andover on a lovely sunny Saturday afternoon. It was a top vs bottom clash but Farnham were under no illusion that it would be a tough game and started the game playing down the slope. Farnham welcomed back Sam Voight and Shawa Rai in the starting pack with Joe Brockman also returning to the backline. Jeff Leybourne would make his 1st, 1XV appearance of the season off the bench.

Andover made their intentions clear early on as they kept it tight and used their powerful forwards. However it was Farnham who struck first as from a lineout, Harrison Horner carried well through the middle, shrugging off several defenders before offloading to Shawa Rai who scampered to the line for Farnham’s first score. Conversion missed, 0-5. A perfect start for Farnham. The Andover restart didn’t go 10 meters which gave Farnham a great platform to attack but a big tackle from the Andover winger resulted in a knock on. The hosts then tried to play out of their own half but the ball didn’t go to hand and the lethal Joe Wigmore picked it up and then sprinted in for Farnham’s 2nd try. Conversion successful, 0-12. Farnham looked dangerous in attack but had to front up in defence as Andover continued to carry hard. A breakdown turnover from Oli Kirkpatrick gave Farnham a chance to kick to the corner. The Farnham forwards executed a brilliant lineout move when Ollie Banks Thompson came down the 5m channel and put in hooker Oli Kirkpatrick who dotted down for his maiden 1st team try. Conversion missed, 0-17.

The home team needed to respond and started to string some phases and really test the Farnham defence. The did get over the line however the ball was held up with Farnham protecting their line well. A penalty minutes later a gave them a chance to kick to the corner and used their own lineout move to see their hooker dive over in the corner. Conversion missed, 5-17. Jeff Leybourne came on in the front row on the 30 minute mark as Farnham looked to finish the half strongly. A penalty on the stroke of half time was kicked to the corner and the driving maul was set up perfectly with hooker Oli Kirkpatrick diving over for his 2nd try of the day. Conversion missed but the half time score, 5-22 with the bonus point in the bag.

Farnham now playing up the hill, had to keep the momentum and wanted to put in an 80 minute performance. Farnham were more than holding their own against a strong Andover pack at scrum time as the hosts looked to move the ball wide, Joe Brockman read the miss pass to intercept and race clear from 40 meters out for Farnham’s 5th try. Conversion successful, 5-29. A couple of changes early in the 2nd half with Jack Haylett and Reece Stennett coming on. Unfortunately Haylett suffered a head injury minutes later but was able to walk off the field. A penalty gave Farnham again a chance to kick to the corner and although the initial maul was stopped short, the Farnham forwards kept it tight with Jonny Vincent registering his first ever assist by popping to Shawa Rai, who dived over for his 2nd try of the afternoon. Conversion successful, 5-36.

Farnham were now enjoying themselves and almost had another score when Joe Wigmore broke clear before offloading to Oscar Henderson who somehow spilled the ball with the try line in his sights. Farnham were controlling the game well with half backs Harry West and Ollie Brown marshalling the troops well. A brilliant box kick from Harry West cleared Farnham’s lines and Shawa Rai was there first to take man on ball. Farnham counter rucked well with Joe Wigmore fly hacking the ball through and Andover couldn’t sweep up the ball cleanly, leaving the lethal Wigmore to snatch his 2nd score of the game. Conversion successful, 5-43. Farnham wanted their half century and got it when a well executed lineout move saw Toby Salmon break clear, picking of some tired Andover forwards and drawing the fullback to put in Fin Sloan to score under the posts, 5-50.

Andover to their credit, kept playing to the end and had a lineout 10 meters out. Their rolling maul crept towards the line with their skipper diving over for their 2nd try. Conversion successful, 12-50. They almost had another score with the last play of the game as they broke out but the final pass was well stopped by Ollie Brown. Joe Wigmore picked up the loose ball and beat several defenders to race clear for what looked like his hat-trick however an excellent tap tackle by the Andover fullback stopped this. The ball was well recycled though and Recce Stennett managed to finish off well in the corner. Conversion missed and the final score, 12-55.

A great 5 points from Farnham as they continued their momentum and kept their 6 point lead at the top of the table. A huge game away awaits at Tottonians next week and will need a big travelling Farnham faithful crowd to get behind them.

Presidents podium
3- Oli Kirkpatrick
2- Jeff Leybourne
1- Shawa Rai