"U13s" v Esher U13s

On a beautiful sunny morning at Monkton lane, second place Farnham U13B's welcomed the league leaders Esher 13A's for their 4th league match of the season

Esher were a very strong squad having recently been moved down a number of divisions of the Surrey league. With their obvious class and the general size of the Esher team Farnham were in for a stiff challenge

The match started well for Farnham with some initial pressure on Esher. However once Esher got the ball in hand their strong, direct running started to force Farnham onto the back foot

After 7 minutes of continual pressure with Esher going through the phases eventually the Farnham defence was broken with a try close to the posts. The Esher kicker was on excellent form and converted the try, a pattern that was to repeat throughout the match

Farnham: 0 Esher: 7

Farnham to their credit did not let their heads drop at the undoubted quality of their opposition and continued to try and take the game to Esher. Handling errors at the wrong moments gave possession back to Esher who then proceeded to pressure the Farnham line

This pressure was to tell with Esher running in 2 more tries in the next 5 minutes

Farnham: 0 Esher: 19

Some notable tackling was going on with Lewis Pritchard, Ewan McLeod, Hari Tote and Louis Morgan all making strong tackles to disrupt Esher's progress and attempt to stem the flow, but the power and class of Esher showed through

In the 20 minute Farnham started to exert some pressure of their own. When the ball eventually got to the end of the Farnham back line, Barnaby Swift unfortunately put a foot in touch inside the Esher 22 preventing him scoring a great try

During this period the Farnham pack were also getting into the action, being more proactive and finally putting more pressure on at the ruck. This was rewarded by a Farnham penalty within the Esher 22 due to a stray Esher hand in the ruck

From the subsequent penalty Jake Kimberley forced his way over the line in the corner for a well deserved try. The subsequent conversion from the touch line was well struck but fell narrowly short of the posts

Farnham: 5 Esher: 19

With their tails up Farnham were straight back on the attack. After a lovely handling move by the backs Barnaby Swift was stopped just short of the line. Although Farnham subsequently got over the try line the whistle had gone for an injury. This was the closest Farnham were to get to the Esher line through the remainder of the match

Esher again up' their play and powered through Farnham two more times before half time

Farnham: 5 Esher: 33

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first with Esher scoring to increase their lead

Farnham: 5 Esher: 40

Farnham did not roll over and continued to try and break the Esher line with strong runs from Jake Kimberley and Hari Tote. Esher however closed out the match in the 15th minute of the second half with a try under the posts to reach the 40 point winning margin

Farnham: 5 Esher: 45

Farnham met and were outclassed by a very good Esher A team playing well below their proper league level. Farnham doggedly kept going which was commendable, never letting their heads drop. With better handling and more proactive rucking they could have caused Esher more trouble, but on the day Esher's victory was well deserved