Hornets beat another youthful local rival

The sun was out with clear blue skies, even with recent wet weather the pitch held up well when the Hornets travelled the short commute up the M3 to play against a young Basingstoke 3s team.

A set of 7 tries came from Mark Baines who opened the scoring, Gareth Yeomans keeping the front row try tally alive. The youthful Patrick Anderson bagging another. Andrew Freshwater who has more steps than a lighthouse scored a well worked try. Keeping the Hornets forwards dream alive saw Angus Harrison scoring one and replacement pasty loving Matt Rashley scoring 2 after coming on in the 2nd half. Both kickers Andy James and Andrew Freshwater added conversions when they could.

From the start of the game it was clear that Farnham had the stronger pack clearing out well at rucks and setting the platform for the backs to work the ball out wide for Baines to open the scoring. A short while later and the tale of most of the game saw a well worked 4 ball line out with a strong catch and drive allowing Yeomans to go over for the second try of the game.

As per usual Andy James was in great form apart from a scramble defence situation saw James throw a wild pass into the arms of the young Basingstoke centre who finished well from the midfield allowing them to get the closest to matching the score line all game. A slow last 10 minutes from Hornets saw them going into the break being 2 tries up.

The 2nd half saw a couple of changes Kieran Marshall following a notable performance was replaced by Matt Rashley. Howard coming on at 8 and Joe Major moving to the wing after Mark Baines limped off the pitch with a back injury following a strong performance at full back in difficult sunny conditions. The second half saw further tries from the Hornets as Basingstoke appeared to have no answer to the strong catch and drive from lineouts. A dubious try was given after Henry Milas surviving on only 3 hours sleep from the night before was sure he tackled the Basingstoke winger into touch after a good cross field kick from their 10 but alas the linesman (Basingstoke player) surprisingly didn't see the 2 feet in touch and the referee awarded the try with Basingstoke adding the extras.

Again it appeared the Hornets had taken their foot off the gas but answered their captains call with all 17 players playing out of their skin to seal another convincing win with further tries. The final score being 41-12. With no man of the match being awarded again due to some outstanding performances from the following players; Gareth Yeomans picking well from the ruck ball and steam rolling away potential tacklers. Andrew ‘crazy feet’ Freshwater mesmerising the opposition with his foot work and Rory ‘I want to run with the ball’ Walker looking for every opportunity to gain yards with the ball in hand.

A good performance with some strong plays in the tight and loose, the Hornets look forward to another friendly looking to work on breaking the game line with better support running from depth. The fitness and work rate shown by all 17 players is testament to the club playing against a youthful side who made at least 6 replacements at half time.

Dan Ross