On a delightfully sunny March afternoon, Farnham's 3rd XV, the Warriors, hosted a talented Old Rutlishians team.

To begin, Farnham matched Old Ruts, with the score tied at 7-all mid-way through the first half. The Warrior's scrum was solid throughout the fixture. The front row of Charlie Gregory, Steve Douglas, Vince Wiltshire and later, Ollie Lewis, provided a stable platform for evergreen scrum-half Chris Bird to release a young backline blessed for pace, featuring exciting Academy products Eddie Buckton and Oliver Wingfield in the centres.

An early injury to mercurial Warrior's captain, Mike Darlow, who had inexplicably started the game on the flank, allowed Farnham to field eight actual forwards in the pack. Despite this, Old Ruts started to show their skill at the breakdown, securing quick ball and forcing the Warriors into conceding penalties and, as a result, field position. The middle section of the match was all Old Ruts. They executed their offloading game with deadly accuracy, running in a number of tries either side of half time. That is not to say that Warriors did not defend with passion. Number 8 Michael Mizzi, later named Man of the Match, made countless dominant tackles, as did Josh Hopla and Aran Chauhan in the pack.

Moving into the final third of the match, the Warriors team assembled behind the posts to receive some direct words from the more senior players. From then on, Farnham returned to playing with the structure we know they are capable of. A new intensity in the tackle, led by Andy Stent, Mark Wilson and George Ince, resulted in more ball for the Warriors to play with. Continuing the proud Farnham tradition of siblings playing together, fly-half debutant, Ben Clark, and his older brother Tom, at full back, started to pick holes in the Old Ruts defence, creating space for outside backs Josh Tizzard, Aaron Wiltshire and Rory Willis, who was rewarded with the final try of the match after some excellent phase play.

A huge effort from all players against tough opposition, the majority of who will in fact return to Monkton Lane next Saturday to play our 2nd XV, the Vikings. The ethos of the Warriors remains strong, with a wonderful blend of youth and experience, from Academy to Vets, represented on the day.