Old Reigatians 20pts, Farnham 24pts

FARNHAM travelled to Reigate on Saturday to take on one of their bogey clubs – Old Reigatians. In six years, home and away, Farnham had never beaten the Old Reigatians, and in the corresponding fixture last year Farnham were demolished 45-17.

This time around, Farnham set the record straight.

Playing into a swirling wind, in otherwise perfect conditions, Mike Salmon launched a monstrous kick deep into the home 22. The clearance kick skewed into touch and Farnham were immediately on the front foot. Davidson fed Ben Adams with skipper for the day Buster Bond in for the drive. Having made ground, new scrum-half Harry West demanded the ball to start seven explosive phases of play, with forwards and backs interchanging and all making yards with each phase. Toby Salmon passed to his to brother Mike who, in turn, fed James Corlett who freed up flying winger Reece Stennet for the score inside five minutes and a 5-0 lead as the conversion held on the breeze.

Farnham played at pace throughout, their progress only hampered by self-imposed mistakes, poor passes and the odd breakdown decisions by the young referee, and three successive penalties to Reigatians pushed Farnham deeper into their own half.

Play was then held up as debutant West suffered a shoulder injury which brought Eliot Rich into scrum half and substitute winger Joe Wigmore on to the right wing.

But there was no respite as Farnham conceded two scrums in a row, the second giving Chesterton, the Old Reigatians’ No8, an easy pushover try. And Floyd’s conversion gave the home side a 7-5 lead.

Bouyed by being in front, Reigatians increased the pressure with a chip and chase with second row Franklin-Talbot, who resembled a human battering ram all game, on the charge, and Ben Jones was caught by no fewer than three maurading back rowers as he was forced to attempt a clearance kick. The charge down was inevitable and Williamson went over in the corner to pad Old Reigatians’ lead to 12-5.

Farnham had to find a spark and did so driven on by the back row of Comley, Bond and Mitchell. Farnham are fortunate that in loose play, because of injuries, they field five breakaway flankers with Jonny Davidson at hooker and Ben Adams in the row, so the pace and support around the pitch provides advantages at the breakdown and out wide. And so it proved. A lineout 15 metres inside the Old Reigatians’ half was driven on by Azevedo, who smashed his way a further 10 metres up field before quick ball through Rich, the Salmons and Corlett freed up Wigmore who, with three men still to beat, jinked his way through for a superb try to cut Farnham’s arrears to 12-10.

If anything, the pace and intensity then ramped up further. Old Reigatians kicked for territory, only to be bounced back by the Farnham defence, and then attacked through the pick-and-drive supporting play of the visitors, with the Farnham supporters willing their boys on.

But with the interval approaching, Farnham found themselves under the cosh and two successive penalties gave Floyd the opportunity to kick at goal, and he duly found his range with the final kick of the half to give the home side a 15-10 lead at the break.

The wind had increased as the afternoon wore on, so the advantage was with Farnham in the second half.

Raking kicks from Toby Salmon propelled the visitors forward as Farnham went on the rampage at pace, with the Reigate boys desperately trying to repel the sweeping Farnham attacks. And it ended in frustration for Farnham as they were denied a scoring chance under the posts when the referee stopped play for an injury to Old Reigatians centre Williams.

But Farnham weren’t to be denied for long as, from the subsequent attack, Toby Salmon floated a sumptuous cross-field kick to the flying Wigmore who sliced through the desperate cover to finish under the posts and restore Farnham’s lead at 17-15.

Stung by going behind, Reigatians launched attack after attack to get back into the game, but the Farnham defence held, which is well drilled and effective with two and three-man tackles increasingly commonplace, holding firm.

The game changer during one such attack saw Reigatians winger Forsyth tackled on the Farnham 22. Toby Salmon snapped the ball away with a rip tackle, looked up at the 80 metres to the try line and sprinted for the score in a move that was breathless for players and supporters alike. Having recovered as much as he could, Salmon chipped over the touchline conversion to ease the lead out to 24-15 and an important nine-point margin.

The final five minutes were tense and frenetic with Reigatians desperate for a score and Farnham’s defence desperate to keep them at bay any which way.

And with the clock running down, a lineout to Old Reigatians five metres out resulted in a catch-and-drive try which cut the visitors’ lead to 24-20 and set up a grandstand finish, but Farnham held their nerve.