Farnham 24pts, London Exiles 5pts

This was not pretty. Grey, windy and rain interspersed with sleet almost made this a day to forget. The first half will not linger long in the memory.

Despite playing with the breeze behind them, Farnham simply couldn’t hit their straps. The Exiles, bottom of the league, belied their position by putting the Farnham boys under constant pressure.

Time after time Farnham conceded penalties for offside, for interfering with play, and for high tackles. The list was endless and the count was six-one against after just 12 minutes. The Exiles were organised and focused in defence, picking off the isolated Farnham attack runners and winning vital turnover ball. And the penalty count pushed the home side further and further back into their own half.

While the Farnham blitz defence worked well across the field, the close-in defence at the catch-and-drive from a line-out did not. One such attack was pushed back but at the next Exiles scrum, their scrum-half, Sheldrake, scampered over for a well-worked try and a deserved 5-0 lead after dominating the first 20 minutes.

Perplexed and frustrated, Farnham couldn’t get going as passes floated inaccurately behind the attackers. The swirling wind may have been to blame on occasions but mostly it was down to poor execution and bad decision making. Even skipper Oli Brown and the ultra-reliable Toby Salmon caught the bug with a series of wayward passes.

But Farnham gradually battled their way into the game and a series of attacks down the right spearheaded by winger Eliot Rich and flanker Toby Comley turned up the temperature. Exiles were under the cosh and conceded four penalties in succession – all on their five-metre line. On the fourth occasion, the referee went to his pocket and Exiles No8 Kirby was sent to the sin bin.

On 36 minutes, Farnham finally made their first correct decision of the match. James Corlett raced through the middle and Toby Salmon took the game by the scruff of the neck as he twisted and turned though the defence for a try under the posts. The easy extras meant Farnham were flattered to be ahead 7-5 after a turgid, mistake-ridden first half.

The teams needed the break and Farnham had to regroup and focus on the second half. And to their credit the boys in black and white left the poor first 40 minutes behind them to create a second half of accurate, support play rugby ideally suited to the wet conditions as phase after phase pulled the Exiles defence around the field.

Gradually the momentum swung but Farnham coughed up possession under the Exiles post and the ball was scrambled clear. However, Farnham winger Reece Stennett gathered the ball and set off on a mazy run, popping a pass inside to a rampaging Steve Simmonds who drove into the 22. Quick ball saw Salmon elude three defenders to score wide out to put some daylight between the sides at 12-5.

The Exiles had to attack and in so doing gaps appeared in their defence. Farnham’s attempts to pierce the gaps were thwarted and injuries to Corlett and Salmon momentarily stopped the flow. On the resumption, with both players recovered, Farnham entered their most productive period and winger Stennett was in no mood to let the Exiles off the hook.

Put in space after a Farnham back row breakout through Mitchell and Welch, he finished off the move with a jinking, 40-metre run that left three defenders grasping at air. The score under the posts made the conversion easy for Salmon and the lead was 19-5.

With full time approaching, Stennett concluded his afternoon’s work with another blistering attack down the left. He was held up but popped a pass to veteran Jemi Akin-Olugbade who blasted over from 30 yards. Again, an easy conversion for Salmon and a bonus-point win which, given the first-half performance, seemed unlikely.

* On Saturday, Farnham travel to old rivals Effingham and Leatherhead, who have proved to be a bogey side over the past few years, for the last London 2 South West league game of the year.