U16 Boys in Quins Cup Opener

On a cold, blustery afternoon, and playing on a heavy pitch, Farnham U16 Bs took on a strong Old Reigatians B team in the Quins Cup. The conditions played a large part in a fairly untidy first ten minutes where ORs struck first with a break from a turnover at the breakdown and a dash down the right wing resulting in a score in the corner after 3 minutes. The conversion was missed as the wind took the ball past the right hand upright. Farnham nearly struck back immediately, and although they crossed the ORs try line, the attempt was held up through some desperate defending. ORs had the chance to take the lead after 13 minutes with a center field penalty attempt that again missed the mark as the wind made kicking a real challenge. After a period of Farnham possession in the ORs half, Dan Bird took a quick penalty and ORs were pushed back another ten for not dropping. From the resulting penalty, a direct run by Fraser Sampson saw him crash over for Farnham's first score of the afternoon on 23 mins, with the conversion into the wind not hitting the mark. Farnham then took the lead as ORs cleared their lines with a kick that Austen Bassett collected without breaking stride and sliced through the middle of the ORs defence to score under the posts. Oscar Robertson duly dispatched the conversion after 32 mins. The lead lasted less than 2 minutes though, as from the kick-off ORs put pressure on the Farnham defence and broke down the right to score their second try of the afternoon which was duly converted leaving the game all square at 12 points each at half time.

The second half started well for Farnham as they disrupted an OR line out to nearly score, but for the second time in the afternoon the ball was held up. The pressure did pay off after 57 mins when Sully Lloyd took advantage of some good Farnham build up play and scored in the left hand corner. This time the wind took the conversion just the wrong side of the post and the score remained 17-12. Just under 10 minutes later, in a similar vein to the second Farnham try, an ORs clearing kick was collected brilliantly by Zach Pearce at pace 10m inside the ORs half who then rounded several defenders on the left wing to score with ease before converting the kick beautifully judging the wind to perfection. After 75 minutes, Dan Whitmore rounded off Farnham's try-scoring for the afternoon, breaking through the ORs defence on the right wing before having the wherewithal to head for the posts prior to touching the ball down, making the conversion by Oscar Robertson relatively straightforward which he promptly dispatched.

Overall a great battling win by Farnham scoring 31 points to 12 in challenging conditions.

POM (selected by Old Reigatians) Daniel Whitmore.

Match report by Ian Sampson