First Outing in a while!

On a bitterly windswept Stoke Park the U10As pitched their tent. Warm ups begun with the emphasis on keeping warm and tackling. Rhys Lamplugh had tripped over two chairs within 10 yards of the training ground and limped through the session that Oban Baird and William Wickens chose to miss, preferring a loan track to the ground.

First up were Teddington. The benefits of training became clear as the boys put up a resolute defence with some excellent tackling including hose less prone to this activity. Despite this Farnham had little possession and Teddington ran in a try. From the restart Tom Hammond burst through and offloaded to William Goddard who glided past two defenders and under what would have been the posts if we had them. Within 90 seconds Farnham were back again and after a fluid passage of play Sam Jordain burst over in the corner, some twenty yards ahead of a puffing referee, which was fortunate for Farnham. Sam was substituted and your reporter always after the top stories had a chat. A beaming Sam revealed that he had dropped the all. Nevertheless it was 2-1. The second half was dominated by Farnham with Jo Brockman being held up over the line and after several salvos the boys could not cross the whitewash. A last valiant attempt by Teddington was thwarted and Farnham opened their account with a win.

Barnes took to the pitch with confidence as the two sides hustled for position. Farnham with the slope and the wind started to dominate as they needed to with the advantage of the Surrey station. Tackling hard and winning the rucks Farnham were able to unleash their backs. There were several chances the best of which saw Tom Hammond release Sam Jordain. In a foot race he was narrowly scuppered in he corner. 0-0 at half time. Barnes started to dominate the rucks and when Farnham did get the ball Barnes were either offside or should think about challenging Usain Bolt. Barnes scored but Farnham heads did not go down. Farnham started to back off in the rucks and were being pushed in the scrum and not surprisingly conceded another try. A valiant effort in an evenly matched game ended in a 2-0 defeat and a reanalysis of the off side law.

The wind blew and it got colder as the tournament drifted and we were running over 30 minutes late. Old Alleynians had indeed only just left their college as they were much bigger than our boys. Farnham started brightly but sadly forgot about the tackling learnt on the training ground some three hours earlier. A series of missed tackles saw the OAs go over in the corner. This side does not give up and Max G picked the ball up from the base of the scrum and after an outrageous dummy sped through the gap and over the line. More tackling lapses led to another try before the OAs made it 3-1. The boys fell back on plan Max. Another outrageous dummy and another try.

The endeavour and spirit were good and Farnham could have drawn but for a couple of tackling lapses.

Our final game against Windsor was dominated by a giant of a ten year old. He ran at Callum Jones who bravely stood his ground and as his Dad would have wished concentrated on the core. Callum's Mum was not so happy as Callum flew five yards backwards in the impact. Windsor opened their account and Farnham replied through a great run from Jo Brockman, who had been working hard and tackling everything in sight all day. The big man was having an impact as William, Oban, Rhys , Callum and probably others kept Health and Safety over busy. In between injuries Windsor ran in another four tries and we left Stoke Park battle weary and cold.

There will be some sore bodies in the morning but not broken spirits as the boys worked hard and will record more wins than losses as the tournament season winds up.

Farnham RUFC U10 A Squad

Callum Jones
Max Guibeleguiet
Tom Hammond (C)
Joe Brockman
Rhys Lamplugh
Oban Baird
William Wickens
Khi Samuels
William Goddard
Max Williams
Sam Jourdain
Laurence Lee
Jonty Pendleton