Farnham skipper ‘proud’ after loss
PERFORMANCE PRAISED AFTER DEFEAT AT JERSEY
SKIPPER Toby Salmon insisted Farnham should be proud of their performance despite a 47-34 defeat at Jersey in Counties Two South Central on Saturday.
The encounter at Jersey will go down in the annals of Farnham’s rugby history as one of the great games ranking alongside the very close Surrey Cup match against Esher in 1984 and the victorious trip to Twickenham HQ in 2017.
“A try bonus point is scant reward for a such monumental effort,” Salmon said. “Every player can be proud of how they pushed Jersey every inch of the way collectively as a team and with many stand out individual performances.
“On behalf of the team, I would like to thank the travelling Farnham faithful who gave great support and made a great deal of noise despite being heavily outnumbered.
“I’m sure they will be in good voice again when next week we welcome Witney to Monkton Lane for a mid-table clash.”
Farnham kicked off down the hill wanting to make a fast start to the game. The opening 10 minutes was a battle for territory and despite some big carries from the Jersey forwards, Farnham’s defence held firm.
An early injury to scrum half Harry West meant a backline reshuffle with Ollie Brown moving to nine and Ben Jones slotting in at 10. Chris Durringer joined Callum Jones in the centre to provide power and aggression with Fin Sloan dropping back to 15.
Jersey opened the scoring after some good phase play enabled tight head Tom Wilson to power over under the posts; 7-0 after 15 minutes.
Farnham had to withstand a lot of pressure, however the usual big hitters Josh Watson and Jules Joris halted the Jersey attack and earned a penalty to relieve the pressure.
Eventually Farnham kicked a penalty to the corner where a brilliantly set maul crept towards the line from which the towering Marcus Lambert-Parsons wriggled free to touch down. The conversion was successful; 7-7.
Farnham gained possession on the halfway line from where a great inside ball from Ben Jones found Oscar Henderson, who charged through the first line of defence and ran over the Jersey full-back to score under the posts. Salmon’s conversion was good and Farnham had their noses in front 14-7.
Farnham’s Jonathan Vincent came off the bench and immediately won