First ever league game...

Farnham kicked off and shortly afterwards a penalty was awarded for Chobham “hands in the ruck”. From the penalty Farnham did a wonderful set of moves across the backs, but unfortunately a try-scoring opportunity ended in a knock-on two metres from the try-line! A scrum was set and then reset; finally Chobham kicked for clearance. The ball made its way to Max W whose pace and power gave him the ability to run and score – from the half way line! At this point three subs came off the bench (Khi, McKenzie and Rohan, coming on for Ethan, Sam M and Alex).

Chobham dominated at the rucks and this became an area of real strength for them in the first half. On several occasions when Farnham surged forward, the ball would often be turned over at the ruck giving the opposition control. Twenty minutes into the game and Chobham’s pressure paid off with a well-deserved try. Unfortunately, one of their players was injured in the process and replaced. At this stage in the game both sides were giving lots of penalties away, particularly at the ruck, for various offences – being offside, hands in the ruck and coming in at the side. The ref had a word with both teams to remind them about discipline. The penalty count was adding up and on a few occasions Farnham found themselves on the wrong side of the ref for over zealous backchat. The game was quite even for the next ten minutes and with the clock counting down it looked like this was set to be a tight encounter. The last five minutes of the first half became frantic, with Chobham very much on the attack. A try saving tackle from Sam H and Max W was a breath-taking piece of defence. The ref blew the whistle for half time whilst the first aiders attended Max W who had been injured in the process.

The second half started and it was clear that summer fitness training was paying off. Chobham were now pinned in their half and rarely did they show the promise we saw earlier. Ten minutes into the second half and Alex almost scored – all but for a herculean tackle from the opposition. It was pulsating rugby. Chobham kicked, and the ball was caught by Louis who ran from half way to score – beating four defenders in the process – after consultation with the touch judge the Ref determined the ball to be short of the line, resulting in a reset scrum to Farnham. Unfortunately, Louis was taken off the field to be assessed with what looked like a shoulder injury. Farnham’s scrum gave a dominant push forward, giving Callum the space to charge for the line, resulting in a fantastic try! Unfortunately, Laurence was injured in the process and came off the field. Louis returned having been assessed fit to play. With 13 minutes to go Chobham kicked off and Farnham successfully secured the ball in a well set ruck, only for one of Chobham’s forwards to be yellow-carded for careless kicking. With ten minutes to go Jonty came on for Rohan.

Farnham worked their way up field with Alex showing real agility and pace – his efforts almost paid off with a try but at the last moment, a Chobham player ripped the ball from him as he crossed the whitewash! From the resulting scrum Sam H was able to crash forward and score! It was now 3-1 to Farnham with nine minutes to go. Farnham were now very much in control and in the last 5 minutes the boys were able to run two more tries in – another for Sam H, and one for Max G, providing the final score in the last minute of the game.

• Congratulations to Rohan for picking up Farnham’s Man of the Match!
• “Richard” of the week is shared between Tim Lee for going to Reeds RFC and Laurence for getting the ball ripped from him by a back!