Fired-up Farnham notch 50 to make progress in the cup

A WELL-CRAFTED half-century put Farnham through in the Papa John’s Community Cup as they beat Chobham at Monkton Lane.

Chobham kicked off with the wind behind them and were soon within touching distance of the Farnham line.

They eventually powered over from close range for their opening score. A successful conversion made it 7-0.

Farnham needed a response. Barrelling runs by Oscar Henderson and Harrison Horner made early inroads into Chobham territory and when the ball was recycled after a scrum five metres out and shipped smartly to Toby Salmon, he sliced through to open Farnham’s account. The conversion levelled it up.

Farnham wrestled the momentum in their favour when Jack Scullion and Reece Stennett combined well to put Farnham in behind the Chobham defence. Harry West spun the ball away to find Henderson, who burst through the defence to dive over for Farnham’s second. The conversion made it 14-7.

Chobham came back quickly as Farnham failed to clear their lines at the restart. The Chobham scrum half slipped through two tackles to dive over. The conversion was successful.

Farnham were next to score. Jemi Akin-Olugbade broke through a couple of tackles before offloading to Jack Bemelmans who found flanker Jack Haylett on his shoulder to run in under the posts. The conversion was successful.

But Chobham were gifted good field position by some unforced errors from Farnham and their centre powered over from close range. The successful conversion levelled it back up at 21-21.

Farnham had the wind behind them in the second half and, unlike in the previous week’s final league game against London Irish, they used it successfully to pin Chobham back.

The boot of Scullion and Salmon did the business. A penalty in front of the posts allowed Salmon to give Farnham a 24-21 lead.

An injury to Callum Jones meant Joe Wigmore came on for his first appearance since rejoining the club.

Loose forwards Mike Mizzi and debutant Tom Hammond also came on with Jeff Leybourne bolstering the front row. Wigmore made immediate impact earning a breakdown penalty 40 metres out. Salmon opted for the posts to make it 27-21.

Farnham began to dominate possession as Chobham’s heavy pack tired. A well worked line-out move saw Scullion break through and draw the last defender to put Toby Simmons away. He passed to Henderson who dotted down. The conversation made it 34-21.

Farnham earned a penalty 25 metres out which Salmon converted to extend Farnham’s lead to 37-21.

Another poor restart exit by Farnham gave Chobham a chance to kick to the corner. The initial drive was stopped, but their forward pack found space in the corner to score. The conversion was successful.

A Farnham scrum provided the Chobham pack a good opportunity to earn a scrum penalty. However, Henderson cleaned up the ball and then beat two defenders on the blind side before brilliantly offloading to Jack Bemelmans who showed his pace to reach the Chobham 22.

The ball was slickly recycled through Akin-Olugbade and Salmon and Scullion was on hand to finish well in the corner. The conversion went over from wide out to extend Farnham’s lead to 44-28.

The game opened up as Chobham tried all they could to stay in the game. An audacious cross-field kick was gathered by their winger, who skinned the defence and ran in under the posts. The conversion made it 44-35.

With five minutes left, Farnham had a penalty just over 40 metres out. Salmon went the posts and made the score 47-35.

Minutes later, Farnham won a penalty in the same spot and encouraged by his earlier success, Salmon repeated the process with aplomb to make the final 50-35.

For the next round, Farnham make the long trip to south Gloucestershire club Thornbury on Saturday.