Farnham welcomed Maidenhead on a cold and wet afternoon for the latest league fixture. Farnham handed a debut to Zac Tinkler at fullback whilst captain Toby Salmon celebrated his 200th 1XV appearance. The visitors kicked off with Farnham opting to play with the conditions in the first half.

An early scrum penalty allowed the visitors to get their first points on the board with a penalty to make it 0-3. However Farnham came back strong and won a penalty but decided to kick to the corner. The maul was well set and although it was stopped short, the ball was well recycled and the heavies got to work. They drew in the Maidenhead defence which allowed the ball to be moved wide and Joey Wood finished off well for the first score. Conversion successful, 3-7. Considering the conditions, Farnham were still managing to move the ball well and Ollie Brown spotted the narrow Maidenhead defence and found Toby Salmon who stepped inside to break the line before offloading to a rampaging Oscar Henderson before he was brought down just inside the 22. The ball was recycled with Ollie Brown finding Salmon again who just managed to get his pass away to put in Zac Tinkler for a debut score. Conversion successful, 14-3.

A great score from Farnham however minutes later, Maidenhead produced one of their own. The outside centre broke through the line before linking up with his fellow backs and the left winger finished off in the corner. Conversion missed, 14-8. Farnham had to make the conditions advantage count and kicked to the corner again to set up a driving maul. Again the attack was patient and the 1 meter maestro Greg Franzel was on hand to power over for the 3rd try. Conversion successful, 21-8. Farnham kept going till half time however an injury to Maidenhead ended the first half. 21-8.

The conditions somehow managed to get worse with heavier rain and chilling wind. Farnham playing into the wind had to be sharp with their kicking and discipline. They also had to tighten their attack slightly with the forward carriers of Henderson, Voight, Rai and Vincent getting through a lot of work. However it paid off when Adam Pickett managed to ride 2 tackles and dot down for the bonus point try. Conversion missed, 26-8. Maidenhead came back though and used the wind to give them good field position. The Farnham defence was staying strong and resolute knowing a score could easily turn the fixture around. They held out for roughly 10 minutes before Maidenhead managed to find space on the left hand side and diver over for the score. Conversion successful, 26-15 with 17 minutes to go.

Farnham didn’t panic though and kept the game compact with Harry West kicking and managing well. Marco Azevedo and Jack Buxton came on into the pack with Ben Stevens also coming on in the backline. Again the Farnham heavies attacked in close which again created space, this time for Max Williams to dive over to give Farnham some breathing room. Conversion successful, 33-15 and the result now surely in the bag. Farnham kept attacking well and a penalty was kicked to the corner. Harrison Horner was just stopped short but Jonny Vincent was onhand to power over for the 6th try meaning all the front row got on the scoresheet. Conversion missed, 38-15. Maidenhead did however finish the match on the high with a try just before full time however it was too late and the game finished 38-22.

A brilliant 5 points for Farnham in really testing conditions. The defence stood strong for the majority of the game and the attack was well managed throughout. We move up to 6th in the league with an away trip to 4th place Alleynians next week.

Presidents podium:
3- Jonny Vincent
2- Sam Voight
1- Harry West