1st XV
Matches
Sat 05 Feb 2022  ·  London 1S
Farnham R.U.F.C.
1st XV
19
40
Camberley
Fickle Fortune punishes inaccurate Farnham.

Fickle Fortune punishes inaccurate Farnham.

Mark Weeks7 Feb 2022 - 14:40
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Reshuffled side does the club proud

This postponed derby game was much anticipated by both clubs following good wins the previous weekend. Farnham had put Hammersmith and Fulham to the sword. Camberley had handed London Welsh their first home league defeat in five seasons. However, the Farnham Faithful were taken aback to learn that – for the first time in seven years – injury had deprived the 1st XV team sheet of not one, but any of the Salmon brothers. Camberley too had to make six changes to their winning team.

Despite the change in personnel, it was a good game of rugby between two talented and committed sides. There is no doubt Camberley deserved their 19-40 victory, but, with better luck, fewer errors and more clinical finishing by the black and whites, the score might have been a lot closer.

The first forty minutes well illustrated the point. Despite playing into a stiff breeze from the town end, Farnham spent most of those minutes camped in Camberley’s half. However, the entire game was dominated by fast blitz defence from both sides, and Farnham’s freshly formed half-back pairing of Rhys Basset at scrum half and Ollie Brown at flyhalf, struggled to set free the centres Jarred Cooper and James Corlett. An ex-regular first teamer now playing mostly for the 2s and 3s, Corlett brought wise and able stability to the Salmon-less mid-field.

Therefore, Farnham’s attack was based on strong carries from the forwards to put the “Cam” defence on the back foot. Jamie Low and Harrison Horner from the row were both effective in this role.
In the tight, the established front row of Marco Azevedo, Jules Joris and Ben Edwards initially had the nudge on their opposite numbers despite conceding quite a few kilos. On the flanks, Jonny Vincent and Toby Comley made nuisances of themselves all match long. Oscar Henderson at No 8 was the top jackler of the side, winning turnovers at critical times and was held up over the line after a powerful drive.

Farnham spent fifteen minutes pounding the Camberley lines only to be repelled by dogged defence and the powerful boot of Cam’s No 10 Liam Prescott. Eventually Cam broke out and Farnham suffered their first stroke of bad luck when an attempt to intercept was adjudged a deliberate knock-on despite the ball going backwards. Penalty to the corner, a strong drive and a neat pop pass put the Cam centre over under the posts.

Back come Farnham and up fast comes the Camberley defence only to be regularly penalised. They spent the day on the edge. It’s a judgement call. The ref recognised it and had a word.

Despite this, as Farnham attacked from the half-way line, Cooper is tackled hard by a Cam player who was a distance off-side - as adjudged by all the balcony but unsighted by the referee. The ball is dislodged and Cam flood forward. The Farnham defence was in disarray and Cam are over out wide. The conversion missed. 0-12 after 25 minutes.

Despite the score line, Farnham are very much in the game. Camberley continue to infringe to keep out the black and whites and eventually the referee shows a yellow card to the Cam hooker.

As the half-time whistle beckoned, the see-saw nature of the encounter was well illustrated. Farnham had a line out on the Cam five-meter line. The maul is taken down illegally and Farnham opt for the scrum. Off the base, Henderson burst for the line only to held up. The drop out restart from under the posts reaches the half-way line where Farnham knock-on. However, the forwards retrieve the situation by winning the penalty at the scrum. The kick to the corner is good, but Camberley wrestle the ball from Farnham at the ensuing maul and break out. For all the world, the try was on but for a last-ditch tackle from full back Ben Jones and a scramble on the line by Toby Comley who had tracked back with the Cam support player to force the knock on.

This was only the fourth time in the match Cam had got into the Farnham half. Farnham had the wind at their back in the second half. Hopes of an upset remained.

Jules Joris won an early turnover of the second half and once again the penalty to the corner set up the catch and drive. But the ball is over thrown. Camberley hacked on, retrieved the ball and spun it wide aiming for their talisman winger, Oyoni Gbla. However, there is full-back Jones, once more on the spot, to intercept and sprint 50 meters to open the home side’s account. Rhys Bassett made good the conversion.

Camberley struck back five minutes later in unfortunate circumstances. The Farnham pack had been dominant all game long and earned several scrum penalties, but at a 5m defensive scrum, the referee adjudged prop Marco Azevedo to have deliberately brought down the scrum and he is shown the yellow card. Cam reset the scrum and the reorganised Farnham pack has no answer to the Cam forwards now restored to eight men. A push over try is scored and the kick well taken. 7-19.

Soon after the restart, Cam drift off-side again and, again, Bassett pings the ball into the corner – and again the Farnham throw goes astray. Camberley were quick to reset from defence to attack and spin the ball to winger Owen who raced down the line and over. Another good conversion and its 7-26.

You won’t win a match if you don’t nail the basics. In almost a carbon copy, some minutes later, Farnham had the throw on the Camberley five metre line – but the target is missed and two phases later, Camberley’s Gbla is over the Farnham line and Macnamara converted. 7-33.

With fifteen minutes left to play, there were murmurs on the balcony that this could become a rout. However, the team was made of sterner stuff. The backs were reshuffled with Ollie Brown back to his familiar role of scum half and Jones – who was having an excellent game – moved into the 10 slot. Nathan Phillimore came on for Basset who had emptied the tank in an excellent shift at No 9.

Farnham stuck to their fast, multi-phase, all-team game and before long a gap appeared for Gabe Hills to pierce with a deft kick and chase. Jarred Cooper converted, 14-33.

Thoughts of a miracle come back were banished at the restart. A superb high hanging kick put doubt in Farnham minds. The ball was spilt and recovered by CAM who unleashed their powerful centres to combine for the score under the posts. Easy conversion, 14-40.

The weighty Cam pack were now dominant and, but for a forward pass at the last, the visitors would have scored again. To their credit, the Farnham boys did not lie down. Camberley’s discipline let them down once more, and a yellow card was shown - this time for back chat. From that penalty, the Farnham line out worked well – at last - and after a couple of phases from the forwards to suck in the defence, Ben Jones broke the line in the 10 channel and released Jarred Cooper for a well-deserved try. The kick is missed. 19-40.

The restart from Cam is collected deep in the Farnham 22 from where this committed team play multiple phases to inch their way forward and threaten to break out. Camberley concede yet another canny penalty and Farnham go for the line out – but what could have been, was not to be as the line out let them down once again.

Podium Points: 3 – Ben Jones, back to his best, 2 – Oscar Henderson the top jackler, influential in both attack and defence, 1 - Reece Stennett unlucky not to get on the scoreboard with some scintillating runs and, as always, he never missed a tackle.

Match details

Match date

Sat 05 Feb 2022

Kickoff

14:00

Competition

London 1S

League position

2
Camberley
11
Farnham
Team overview
Further reading

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