Chobham 3s 13 v 12 Farnham 2s/3s

But with a number of injuries and missing personnel, the Hornets and Warriors once again combined their resources to fulfil the fixture. The start of some event the other side of the world hasn’t helped, mainly with early beers now being justified, but I think we’re all glad it’s finally started.

Back to the game, and in an evenly contested encounter, both sides looked to play an expansive style of rugby despite the greasy conditions. Unfortunately, too many errors made for a stop start game and both teams struggled to maintain any momentum. However, it was the hosts that broke the deadlock when the visitors’ defence eventually gave when the ball was moved quickly down the line and Farnham simply ran out of numbers to cover. The winger scoring under the posts and the simple conversion made the score 7-0.

Farnham looked to respond quickly and thought they had the perfect reply when Mark Woodward crossed the try line. Unfortunately, the referee thought he saw a knock on during the act of scoring and so Farnham were left frustrated and without any points.

Some stern words were required at half time and Farnham were looking for an improvement. Things started well but with only five minutes of the half played, there was a nasty clash of heads between two Farnham players which left one with a cut and the other needing first aid treatment. With play stopped, and Chobham first aiders providing excellent support to the players, it was decided to continue the game on another pitch. Both players are thankfully ok although Felix Titherley, making only his second appearance with the senior sides, was taken away by ambulance and was later diagnosed with a heavy concussion. Farnham wish them both a speedy recovery.

When the game eventually restarted, Farnham were soon in the hunt for some points. It took a while, but eventually Farnham were on the board. A superbly timed run from Dave Hurley saw him break through the line to score out wide, unfortunately the conversion was missed and the score stood at 7-5. Farnham didn’t have it all their way and Chobham had a number of forays into the Farnham 22m. Discipline let the visitors down as, time and time again, the game was interrupted by the referees whistle. Six points from two soft penalties extended the lead to 13-5.

With time running out, Farnham looked to attack at every opportunity and eventually managed to keep the ball alive long enough to attack wide when first the fly half, and then Toby Comley, broke the defensive line with Comley providing Ross McKay with a well-timed pass to score in the corner, a typical prop effort. Andy James successfully converted the kick to close the gap to 13-12. Although Farnham tried to keep the momentum going Chobham managed to close the game out turning over possession and keeping the visitors pinned in their own half with some good tactical kicking.

A disappointing loss for Farnham but there are still plenty of reasons to be optimistic. In patches, Farnham played some very good rugby and the challenge now is to maintain that for longer periods in the game. Both the Hornets, and the Warriors, have one game left before the start of the merit fixtures and will be looking to improve on this performance next weekend.