Farnham bounce back from disappointment

SALESIAN College’s Year 11 basketball squad kept their ex cellent form going in game 43 of their careers at the school,.

They recorded their 42nd win as they beat Tomlinscote in the District Cup final at Surrey

Sports Park, ending their time together on the court in the best way possible.

FARNHAM took five well-deserved point as they battled to a 32-27 home win over Wimborne in Regional Two South Central on Saturday.

In doing so they bounced back from the previous week’s poor showing at Reading while Wimborne went into this game confident after beating league high-flyers Tottonians.

Wimborne kicked off with the breeze behind them while Farnham got off to their traditional fast start at home.

A half-break from the returning Jonny Vincent put Farnham on the front foot. He offloaded to Toby Salmon in support who stepped his way through the Wimborne defence to get Farnham into the 22. Unfortunately the final pass was knocked on.

Nevertheless, Farnham were on the front foot and showed their threat in attack.

Wimborne fielded a strong, physical pack and an impressive ball-carrying inside centre who repeatedly got his team over the gain-line. After ten minutes the match was scoreless.

Then Fin Sloan charged down a Wimborne clearing kick. The ball was scooped up by Salmon who

After winning the league and cup every year since beginning at the College, the squad was keen to go out with a bang!

They started the match exceptionally well with captain Koby Rival sinking 31 points in the game, ably assisted by Dominic West (14) and Alessandro Verderame (7). offloaded to Toby Simmons who went over wide.

The conversion was missed but Farnham led 5-0.

Farnham’s attack was looking dangerous and a penalty inside the Wimborne half allowed a kick to the corner and rolling maul attack. George Haylett, in at hooker, threw well all day with Oscar Henderson controlling proceedings in the air.

The maul was stopped short five metres out but the ball was recycled to Ollie Brown who found Ben Jones who popped the ball inside for Jonny Vincent to dot down. A successful conversion made it 12-0.

Wimborne managed to build some phases however Farnham’s defence stood strong with Josh Watson and Marco Azevedo leading the line.

Eventually Wimborne did find space down the right hand side with slick inter play seeing their winger dot down in the corner. The conversion was missed.

The scrum was an even battle for most of the game with Farnham holding their own.

A set piece move produced a break down the right wing by Max Williams who got Farnham in behind and with the ball quickly

Points and contributions came from Rhys Davies, Arjan Magar, Benji Munnik, Tom Kemp, Lewis Mandaza, Ennis Carty and Leon Thapa to seal a memorable 63-8 win over a determined Tomlinscote.

Head of PE Gareth Cousins commented: “The boys have been committed and driven over the recycled, Marcus Lambert-Parsons charged onto the ball and, breaking multiple tackles, scored under the posts.

A successful conversion made it 19-5.

Farnham kicked off the second half looking to maintain their momentum.

Harrison Horner came on into the row to add his usual powerful carrying. A poor clearing kick from Wimborne found Williams who moved it infield to Jones.

He took on the chasing defenders and beat three men before offloading to the charging Henderson who dived in under the posts for Farnham’s bonus point try. The conversion made it 26-5.

Wimborne provided an immediate response through a very good individual try from their rumbustious No 12 who beat three defenders to go over in the corner. The conversion was missed.

Midway through the second half, the momentum shifted in Wimborne’s favour.

Farnham could not managing to keep hold of the ball and were having to make a lot of tackles.

The home side’s defence was eventually broken with defenders past five years, to do what they have done is quite special and something they should be very proud of, as we are of them at the college.”

Earlier in proceedings the College’s Year 9 squad beat Yateley 46-19 to secure their third treble and are also unbeaten in their time at the school. squeezed tight keep out the pick and drive and then a long ball over the top allowed a simple run it for the try scored in the corner.

The conversion was missed, making the score 26-15.

Farnham were yet again guilty of a mounting penalty count when under pressure and this cost them field position.

A series of close carries got Wimborne close to Farnham’s line giving the inside centre the opportunity to once again power over to secure a bonus point try. The conversion was missed again and the score at 26-20 with 10 minutes to play.

Farnham responded with an easy three penalty points moments later to make the score 29-20 and give themselves some breathing room.

However, Wimborne refused to lie down and with two minutes left their No 10 snaked through a gap to score under the posts. The cconversion made it 29-27.

From the restart, Farnham kicked long and pinned Wimborne in their own 22 and managed to draw a penalty in the right hand corner.

With a minute left, Salmon opted for the posts and used up all his time before slotting the kick through the posts.

CAMBERLEY left it late to secure a 24-22 win at Brighton on Saturday in Regional One South Central. The game got off to an electric start with Oli Wright taking the kick off, followed by Max McCarthy pushing the resultant penalty just into the home 22. A great catch saw Camberley then set up a very optimistic drive from 20m and the home side had no answer when hooker Spencer Hayhow crashed over with just two minutes on the clock. The game was being played at a frenetic pace and when Ben Harrison was shown yellow three minutes later, Camberley started to lose some of the collisions and with Nick Barry starting on the bench the regular dominance at scrum time was missing. On 14 minutes Brighton opened their account with an unconverted try and soon moved the score to 12-5. At that stage Camberley were just holding on and were fortunate that the hosts missed two fairly straightforward penalty attempts. But just before the break, the Blues added another converted try to make it 19-5. With Barry coming on after the break, the Blues were under severe pressure at scrumtime. Though Jaid Wiltshire went off with a shoulder injury, the backs continued with the momentum. A neat chip over the defensive line was read well by Bowers who collected and touched down close to the posts for seven points. Camberley had truly upped their energy levels and a long throw on halfway saw Chris Bird soar above everyone and drop the ball into McCarthy’s safe hands. The dependable No 9 spotted a gap and scythed through the defence in a 50m dash to dot down under the posts for a converted try to level it up at 19-19. Camberley threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Blues who worked their socks off to repel the visiting 15 and in fact took the lead with about five minutes left with a straightforward penalty. The Blues attempted to put the game out of reach but Camberley were awarded a penalty in front of the posts, which would have secured the draw... but captain Bird decided he wanted the win and opted for another scrum. After a number of very physical phases, Hayhow was finally almost driven over before the quickthinking McCarthy spotted the ball and the gap to dot the ball down and end what had been an exhausting 80 minutes for both sides.