Farnham U14s visited Sutton and Epsom at their slopey Priest’s Hill pitches and came away beaten but unbowed in a fierce match of three thirds that ended 30-24 for the home side. It was a mixed-ability match over three thirds.
Farnham gave away a try with S&E’s first touch of the ball. It was a lovely day, and once the boy’s completed their first half sunbathing, they started to dominate S&E with very hard rucking; Hamish Fergus and Carson Barrass making life very difficult for the opposition. The pressure and a number of dominant tackles by James Richardson pushed S&E back into their own 22 and Josh Lockwood went over for a great sniping wingers try. Hamish Ferguson soon went over as well, after a very strong drive, followed soon after by Tyler Buckley sprinting a try in the corner.
The second third started less well, and some handling errors forced by S&E’s line speed meant we were on the back foot, with Finn Hills, playing at 12 for the day, digging deep and showing his determination with ferocious tackling. The boys stuck to the game plan of attacking the oppositions half backs, and this bore fruit with Finn Hills scoring a driving try, which was answered with two from S&E following some poor tackles.
The final third started evens on tries but Farnham just behind on conversions. Finn Hills topped off a great sequence of play with his 2nd try of the game, powering over the line under the posts. Our boys kept up the pressure and stuck it out with some exhausting uphill (literally) scrums, but in the last 5 minutes S&E’s very fast centre managed to finally get a touch of the ball and ran the length of the pitch twice to score two late tries and we ran out of time!
The S&E coaches complimented our standard of play and felt we should have won. Great support from the parents as always and a very welcoming club.
Tries:
Lockwood
Ferguson
Buckley
Hills (2)
Con:
Quick (2)
Man of the Match - Finn Hills
Hard Hat - James Richardson