Farnham welcomed both Horsham’s 1st and 2nd XV to Monkton Lane on Saturday for the 1s last home fixture of the season – a dry, bright day with a slight breeze – perfect for running rugby. It was Horsham who ran out convincing winners in both games, but the post-match party in the club house confirmed the underlying friendship and respect between the two clubs.
Farnham’s 1st XV line up was somewhat disrupted by the fact the club captain had taken the skipper, pack leader and a couple of other senior players away for his stag weekend. Furthermore, talisman Toby Salmon was away raising money for charity by kayaking the length of Lake Malawi. While some old timers grumbled, it must be remembered that these boys pay for the privilege of playing in the black and white and do so for fun. Following words spoken at lunch about the sad loss in battle of Ukraine’s former skipper Oleksi Tsibko and to cancer of Scotland and Lions prop Tom Smith, it was a timely reminder there is more to life than rugby.
Nevertheless, with a large squad of senior players, Farnham were confident of plugging the gaps and making a close game of it. As it transpired, the gaps appeared on the pitch for Horsham who had plenty of pace out wide especially in the form of multiple try scorer No 11 Declan Nwachukwu.
He struck in the first thirty seconds of the game. Farnham kicked off from the town end and a high hanging kick from debutant centre Owen Bevan fell into the grateful arms of Oscar Henderson on the charge. He made ground but Farnham knocked on and the loose ball was picked off by Horsham’s lightening quick No 9, Aaron Linfield who broke free and released Nwachukwu who skinned the defence to go in out wide. Conversion was missed. 0-5.
Farnham came back again winning the restart and went through the phases – but Horsham’s well drilled blitz defence was up fast and little ground was made – this was to be a feature of the game. Eventually Horsham conceded the penalty and Tim Salmon made excellent ground to find touch. Jon Vincent was accurate to Henderson – a line-out pairing that worked well all afternoon – but the attacking position was lost when Farnham knocked on under pressure from the gnarly green wall. Soon the ball was back in Farnham’s 22, from where a great carry from Jon Vincent once more put Farnham on the front foot. But the ball was dislodged.
At the scrum, the Farnham defence switched off and left a huge gap on the left of the set piece through which Linfield darted and sprinted for the line to dot down under the posts. No 10 Joe Blake was sure with the easy conversion. 0-12 on 15 minutes.
From the restart, Horsham threaten down the left, and, but for a timely interception by Farnham scrum half Harry West, would have been in for another score. West had a good game spinning the ball out left and right with a few well timed snipes from behind a pack that evenly matched their opposite numbers. Props Conner Haynes and Ben Edwards often gave Farnham the nudge at the set piece with Jamie Low and Harrison Horner adding their weight both in the row and with some hard carries in open play. On the flanks, Ben Brown tackled way above his weight and Sam Woodhams harried at the breakdown and made good yards with ball in hand.
From West’s interception, No 10 Farnes spotted the gap behind the Horsham defence and sent a booming punt downfield. No 8 Henderson followed up at pace and charged down the retreating winger’s kick, regathered and showing great pace, outran the full back to score out wide. Tim Salmon’s conversion fell just short. 5-12 on 20 minutes and Farnham were back in the game.
However, despite keeping their shape in defence, Farnham failed to make ground with the ball and lost their patience. Players, desperate to make a mark, were isolated. Horsham were quick to jackal and soon found themselves with an attacking line out on the Farnham ten-metre line. The maul was set and a couple of punches from the forwards sucked in the defence. The ball came out to the Horsham 10 who looked up and saw acres of space out wide and delicately chipped the ball over the Farnham defence for that man Nwachukwu to collect and dot down. Conversion missed 5-17 on 30 minutes and the game was slipping away from the black and whites.
After the next restart, another great break from Jon Vincent is ended as the Horsham jackallers steal the ball. The fact they did so on their knees escaped the referee’s attention. The initial attack from the lineout was repelled, but after clearing to their 22 meter line, Farnham were unable to catch the slippery Linfield who broke through, offloaded to his No 14 Will Bell who went over on the right. 5-22 as half time approached. The final Farnham attack of the half is foiled by a deliberate knock on that is punished only with a penalty kick. However, that one line out goes astray allowing Horsham to hoof the ball into touch to take a ten-minute breather.
The second half started as poorly for the home side as did the first. From the restart Horsham are soon in the Farnham 22 where penalties were conceded as the visitors chose to tap and go. The referee issued a warning and Horsham kicked for the corner. In a repeat of an earlier try, Horsham set the maul, sent a couple of forwards punching in to suck in the defence and then released their No 12 Oli Chennel for an easy trot in under the posts. Conversion was good, 5-29.
The game ebbed and flowed for the next ten minutes with Farnham showing that, despite the score, they were a match for the visitors. The Salmon brothers, Tim at centre and Mike at full back had got their gander up and were making hard yards in attack. Mike had a good game collecting a number of high kicks with fearless alacrity before putting his team back on the front foot. Reece Stennett on the wing was forever dangerous ball in hand. But they could not break through and so, to the home team’s cost, they tried to force it.
Farnes’ attempted cut out pass to Stennett in the Horsham 22 was picked off by Bell who sprinted the length of the field to go in under the posts. 5-36. Five minute’s later, Woodhams was isolated, and Horsham kicked for the corner where they simply employed a combination of good technique and their heavyweights to drive the maul over for the try. A good conversion from out wide and the score moved to 5-43.
Many teams would have thrown in the towel by now, but not Farnham, not in front of their loyal home crowd. The Horsham defence was tiring, and Farnham’s runners were making yards. Into the Horsham 22 drove the black and whites. Farnes spotted a potential overlap on his right and fired the pass across the face of the defenders – but alas, this too was picked off and Nwachukwu was off to the line and under the posts once more. 5-50 and the game done and dusted.
No quite. As the match drew to its close, Farnham played their best rugby. The tight five won a scrum penalty in the Horsham 22 from which Tim Salmon took a quick penalty and Farnham went forward through the phases to eventually allow Harrison Horner to rumble over for the consolation score. The final whistle went with Tim Salmon’s successful conversion. 12-50.
President’s Podium: Jon Vincent 3, Oscar Henderson 2, Mike Salmon 1.
Farnham 1st’s next game is at KCS Old Boys to fulfil the fixture cancelled by COVID. The match will be played under lights at their New Malden ground on Tuesday 19th April – KO 7.30pm.