Farnham U13As take superb win vs Guildford

Training at Aldershot last Sunday was focussed on Teamwork as many Sunday training sessions have been. The boys worked on some drills to encourage them to make sure they supported each other and always go into contact with another player on their shoulder. The key message was to stop playing as an individual and instead to play the long game, create a platform through the phases and then deliver a killer overlap for an inevitable try.

This was reinforced in an intensive A team session on the astro at the club on Thursday evening. Like water torture, I guess the coaches have always hoped that the slow drip drip drip of this message would get through to the boy's sub-conscious minds eventually but who knew that there would come a day on which it would all come together with a bang, where all the boys started to communicate and where they would play not for themselves but for their mates.

Well today was that day and what a day it was!

After the usual warm up session the boys retired to the changing room to don the black and white hoops and to get their heads in the game. When they came out of the tunnel and onto the first team pitch they were fired up and raring to go. It was only about 2 minutes later when early pressure caused G'ford to spill the ball on their own try line, right in front of captain Hamish Watson who deftly finished the try. Finlay Anderson slotted a tricky conversion and we were 7-0 up. A great start!

Within 5 minutes the boys were once again playing the phases and so they rumbled inexorably up the pitch into the wind towards the Guildford line. The forward's pressure inevitably resulted in a great platform and the ball was spun out down the line towards Finlay on the wing who stylishly ducked inside the final tackers to score. A conversion attempt from the touchline was never going to be easy in these conditions so the score stayed at 12-0.

Next, a rare lapse in concentration and a missed tackle after a line out deep in Farnham territory allowed Guildford's speedy winger enough space to pin his ears back and score a slightly soft try. 12-5; was this the start of a come back?

Well no. The boys redoubled their efforts and continued their steamroller performance and after 18 minutes, that man Finlay Anderson on the wing was delivered another perfect long pass from Hamish Watson giving him a scoring opportunity which he grasped, quite literally, with both hands. 19-5 and three tries to the home team. One more would deliver a bonus point but no-one was thinking in that direction for fear of jinxing it.

Before the spectators knew it, Guildford had the ball and were heading rapidly towards the Farnham try line when Max Campbell-Harris and Will Partridge tacked the ball carrier. The Guildford player spilled the ball forwards but in the process of being tackled, he sustained a nasty knock to his neck. Super Ref Paul Brooker quickly stopped the game, recognising the potential seriousness of the injury and our valiant first aiders, Lucy, Charlotte, Sarah and Natalie quickly took charge of the casualty with Subodh lending his invaluable professional experience. Half time was called but the injury was declared that it had the potential to be serious enough to require an ambulance trip to A&E so the game moved to another pitch for the second half to allow the paramedics to do their stuff without having to move the casualty.

The second half started in the same vein with the weather by now closing in rapidly. Max C-H was next over the try line to secure the bonus point win and from that point, there was no looking back. Captain Hamish was asked to play for Guildford after a second injury left them with 14 players. He didn't blink when asked but did insist that he would rather play for the other side himself than allow his team to be on the receiving end of one of Louis Thomas's uncompromising tackles if he'd been picked! Two further tries were scored, one by Dylan Milner and another by Ben Cregeen but the wet and windy conditions meant that no further conversions were possible and the game ended with the home side on 6 tries and 32 points with only 5 in response from Guildford.

After the match, Sam Congratulated the First Aid team and the Guildford parent sent a very nice email thanking them too and to let them know that the X-Rays showed nothing serious which was a big relief to all. Sam sent best wishes from all at Farnham in return. Paul Brooker did a fantastic job of controlling the game so thanks went to him too along with the promise of a beer or three in return for spending his Sunday morning thundering up and down our biggest pitch trying to keep up with a crowd of unruly U13s.

But as always, the real stars were the boys who performed out of their skins. Just reward to them is to end round three of the competition, joint top of the Premier Division (Outer) with 11 points from a possible 12 after two games played. What a result! The greatest compliment was from the Guildford head coach who said that the best evidence of the strength of the team was that almost all of our tries were scored in the corners as a result of some skilful rucking and deft passing down the line. "Have they always played like that?" he asked. No one from Farnham was going to tell him otherwise I can assure you...