Twickenham 48pts, Farnham 40pts

ON a beautiful, sunny autumn afternoon, Farnham and Twickenham virtually ran themselves into the ground in a pacey, error-strewn game in London 2 South West.

The final score of 48-40 reflected the frailties of both defences. The scores could have been closer when in the last-minute Farnham’s hooker Jonny Davidson charged down a clearance kick, hacked on and looked certain to score until the ball bounced cruelly onto the post instead of rolling over the line. That incident summed up Farnham’s day – a losing bonus point gone.

This was a topsy-turvy game from the off, as the lead and the try scoring changed hands with each successive play. During the early positional wrestling, the bigger Twickenham pack of forwards dominated the scrums and driving mauls and it was always going to be a long afternoon for the lighter Farnham eight. Three successive lost scrums were followed by a penalty to the corner. The home advantage was gained and the maul plunged over the line for a 5-0 lead.

To the Farnham travelling supporters, the consensus was that the backs would have the edge in attack out wide - and so it proved as Ben Jones cut back at speed to dot down under the posts as Toby Salmon’s conversion gave Farnham a 7-5 lead.

Despite being under constant pressure in the forward encounters, four lineouts lost in a row and the scrum shunting backwards, the Farnham backs, while living off scraps, forged a chance taken by the impudence of Toby Salmon who chipped over the home defence and touched down out wide. He converted his own try to pad Farnham’s lead to 14-5.

With flanker Moses Kualala suffering a blood injury, Buster Bond came on to bolster the flagging pack, but to no avail as the power from the boys in red and black produced an unstoppable pushover try, reducing the visitors’ lead to 14-12 after a frenetic 40 minutes.

If it’s not your day, things go wrong, and so they did here as the first clearance kick of the second half by Oli Brown was charged down to allow the rampant home back row to steam over for a try and a 17-14 lead to Twickenham.

And things went from bad to worse from the subsequent kick-off as back came the home forwards, passing the ball well, to free up their ever-present No 8 who scored under the posts for easy extras to leave Farnham trailing 24-14.

Back came Farnham, roared on by the faithful, at a lineout on the home five-metre line. Jonny Davidson’s throw went in to Ben Adams with Bond and Ben Brown at the back at the back of he maul, and an eight-man drive saw diminutive flanker Brown score. Salmon’s easy conversion pulled Farnham within three points at 24-21.

The pace and the interplay continued at a relentless pace but the Farnham pack continued to be pushed around all over the pitch. As a result, gaps appeared, allowing Twickenham through the centre for a converted try to stretch Twickenham’s lead to 31-21.

Farnham then made deep inroads thanks to the pace of Joe Wigmore and earned penalty to the corner. This time it was Bond who controlled the driving maul to plunge over to ease the visitors’ back within five, 31-26. But back come the home forwards to stretch the Farnham defence and run it ragged, and it was easy pickings for the home pack as the normally resilient Farnham blitz defence was strangely subdued as they fell behind 38-26 with 10 minutes to play.

The ebb and flow then went Farnham’s way as Oli Brown sniped over for a try after James Corlett and Mike Salmon thrust through the middle. Toby Salmon converted to put Farnham back within five, 38-33.

A long clearance from the Twickenham full back put Farnham under pressure in their own five-metre area. From a scrum, Twickenham’s controlled drive saw the Farnham pack disintegrate and a crucial penalty try was awarded.

But Farnham refused to lie down and forced another five-metre lineout from which Toby Salmon crashed over for a converted try.

Farnham now face two big games in London 2 South West, first against league leaders KCS Old Boys at Monkton Lane on Saturday (kick-off 3pm) before travelling to face Old Reigatians on November 3.

* Farnham seconds beat Dorking 33-17, the thirds lost 39-21 against Weybridge Vandals, and the fourth XV beat Alton seconds 66-12.