Wild Geese break Farnham hearts
FARNHAM ended their Regional Two South Central campaign with a gut-wrenching 33-31 home loss to London Irish Wild Geese on Saturday, finishing seventh in the 12-team division.
The Black & Whites handed a debut to 17-year-old academy flyhalf Rufus Doran as well as winger Alex Wennen.
Farnham kicked off playing into a strong wind but Doran popped the ball to Callum Jones who ran a great line to dot down between the posts. Conversion successful, 7-0.
Ben Adams was the next forward to break through after a sumptuous flat pass from Doran.
The ball was off-loaded to Jones who then moved it onto Wellen. He was brought down just short of the line, but the ball was recycled quickly and veteran Jemi AkinOlugbade was on hand to dive over for Farnham’s second try. Conversion successful, 14-0.
The scrum was fairly even, but the wind made the lineout a bit of a lottery for both teams.
An attacking scrum gave Wild Geese a good opportunity and a well worked backs move saw them break through and score their first try. Conversion successful, 14-7. Farnham responded almost immediately though when Harry West found Sam Woodhams lurking out wide. He stormed over for Farnham’s third score. Conversion successful, 21-7.
A series of penalties in quick succession had the referee put Farnham on a warning and Fin Basil was the unlucky recipient of a yellow card for a technical misdemeanour at the breakdown.
Wild Geese came out firing for the second half. Farnham, still with only 14 men, switched off defensively and a Wild Geese winger managed to break away and score in the corner. Conversion missed, 21-12.
The visitors were now dominant, allowing them to power over from a five-metre scrum to narrow the gap. Conversion successful, 21-19.
Farnham, back to 15 men, looked to get their hands on the ball and into the half. However, minutes later, they were reduced to 14 men for the remainder of the game when Josh Watson tackled too high.
This setback seemed to galvanise the hosts who began to gain both possession and ground. The ball was moved wide where Toby Salmon was confronted by forwards past whom he readily sprinted and on under the posts for a bonus point try. Conversion successful, 28-19.
A penalty minutes later gave Farnham a chance to extend their lead with Salmon taking the three points to make the score, 31-19.
Farnham had their chances to secure the game, but a penalty kick was missed and a break by Max Williams went unfinished as the inside ball failed to go to hand.
Another yellow card, this time for Jonny Vincent, reduced Farnham to 13 for the remainder of the game. At one time, they had a player down injured and found themselves defending with just 12 men.
Wild Geese scored their fourth try, and the conversion was successful with the score now 31-26 with three minutes to go.
The Farnham players valiantly made up for the lack of numbers on the pitch, but were starting to run on empty.
A Wild Geese winger broke out but was hauled down by the scramble defence 10 metres out. A knockon at the ensuing breakdown gave the Irish a scrum in a dangerous position. The attacking set-piece was held, but the scrum-half broke away to go in under the posts for the match-winning score. The conversion was successful; 33-31.
FARNBOROUGH lost 26-5 at home to Sandown & Shanklin II in Hampshire Merit Counties 4B on Saturday.
Sandown & Shanklin got the early morning ferry to visit Tile Barn Close for the return fixture – the last scheduled league game of the season. They kicked off with the wind on their backs and the kick sailed over the end of the pitch resulting in a scrum restart.
Most of the play was in Farnborough’s half, but the hosts defended well before finally succumbing to pressure and Sandown & Shanklin scored their first try after 13 minutes.
A charge down as Sandown tried to clear gave Farnborough a chance, collecting the loose ball, and Lewis Greaves touching down for what would be their only score.
Lots of crossfield play set up Sandown’s second try and closed the first half at 12-5.
Farnborough, now with the wind in their favour, managed to hold up the visitors for the next 22 minutes, but with Sandown winning lots of turnover ball and really frustrating Farnborough’s attacks, the home side just could not make any progress.
Two more scores, with the last bonus point try in the final play, closed the scoring at 26-5.
It was a disappointing end to the season with a scrappy game that never flowed or gave Farnborough any space to play.
Farnborough do still have the home game against Millbrook to play, and expect to schedule this in the near future.