U13B's vs Sutton & Epsom U13B's

On arrival at Sutton & Epsom you would have been forgiven for believing you were at a Farnham home fixture for the U13b's third league match of the season as the hosts were in matching kit. Farnham would have to forego their traditional black & white hoops and play the fixture in their reverse white strip.

The pitch was on a significant slope which Farnham had to play up in the first half. With a breeze into their faces and the sun in their eyes it was going to be tough.

The opening five minutes set the tone for the entire first half with the majority of play in the Farnham half with valiant Farnham defence against a significantly bigger team. The Farnham strong scrummage and defensive tackling frustrated Sutton & Epsom with the occasional Farnham breakouts from Hari Tote, Jake Dobinson and Oli Waite causing them problems.

After 15 minutes the pressure finally told with one of the bigger Sutton & Epsom forwards bursting through the Farnham defence to open the scoring.

S&E: 7 Farnham:0

Following the restart Sutton & Epsom were back on the attack. After winning a ruck followed by good distribution of the ball, Jake Dobinson raced 50 metres up the pitch. With an intelligent kick through he was finally forced into touch just short of the Sutton & Epsom try line.

This was however a momentary rest bite and with the last play of the first half Sutton & Epsom moved the ball down the line to score a second try in the corner.

HT: S&E: 12 Farnham: 0

Now with the slope and wind in their favour the second half started with some good Farnham pressure, but after a period of 3 successive penalties against them, Sutton & Epsom moved play from their own 22 to just short of the Farnham try line.

This led to another period of stout Farnham defence enacted by the whole Farnham team. Eventually the ball came out to Barnaby Swift, who supported by Oli Waite powered his way through the Sutton & Epsom defence running half of the pitch to score a try close to the posts.

S&E: 12 Farnham: 5

Farnham had now given themselves a chance and with some great rucking and a solid scrummage had a real opportunity to get back into the game. The key moment of the second half came when a great Farnham move was foiled by the final pass not going to hand with the corner looming.

Sutton & Epsom were not done and again pressed the Farnham line. The Farnham defence did not give up and withheld wave after wave of attacks until finally winning a relieving kick to touch.

However, Farnham were finally undone by a quick 5 metres penalty on the last play of the game to seal the win for Sutton & Epsom.

Final score: S&E: 19 Farnham: 5

Farnham had acquitted themselves well in a very hard fought game of Rugby against a much larger team. A great effort by all......