A grey, miserly morning faded into a fairly pleasant afternoon as Farnham welcomed Chichester to Wilkinson Way for their 4th home game of this season. Old foes, Chichester and Farnham have shared the spoils over the years, but more recently Farnham seem to have had the upper hand with some dominant displays against the South Coast side, but Chichester themselves were coming into this game off the back of an impressive 50-34 against Andover a week prior.



A few changes from last week for the home side with Jack Haylett coming into 7, Toby Simmons back starting on the wing, and a debut at 9 for Matthew Hunt. Jack Buxton and Sam “nectarine missile” Woodhams return to the bench looking to add impact. The Chichester side arrived with several hefty chaps across the park from 1 – 15, with quite possibly the largest average team size of the league, this would be two very different game plans on show.



Farnham got proceedings underway kicking towards a gentle breeze and Chi looked to box from the resulting ruck. Oscar Henderson towered highest to claim the up and under spectacularly and release the ever-present Jonny Vincent to give Farnham front-foot ball inside the opposition half. Quick hands and Farnham move the ball well across to Ben “The Flyer” Stevens’ hands and he seems to have an age to round a defender, coast through the hole created and then nonchalantly ghost the covering full back with glorious ease to touch down in the corner. 5-0 and barely 1 minute on the clock. Captain Salmon keeps his 100% home kicking record intact with a sublime touchline conversion. 7-0, what a dream start for the home side, ominous signs already for the visitors.



Farnham make a mess of the exit from the restart, but Henderson wins a tremendous trademark turnover at the breakdown and Farnham break-out from their own 22, but end up spilling the ball, and Chichester have their first chance to string some phases together. A simple game plan expected, a simple game plan delivered; big one-off runners, minimal creativity and the visitors end up spilling the ball. Farnham command the scrum and man of the match Franzell has his counterpart on toast in the tight and Farnham, driving the scrum forward, win a penalty and kick to the corner. 



After a short catch and drive, several pick and go’s, Farnham can’t quite break the whitewash but have advantage for Chichester being offside. This time they opt for the 5m scrum, and it is dominant again, Henderson lifts the pill to debutant Hunt who serves up a wonderful flat miss-pass on a plate for Simmons to gather out wide and dot down, 12-0. Barely a metre in from touch, Salmon isn’t concerned and bisects the uprights superbly to make it 14-0 with 15 minutes gone, “this is going to be 50+” was heard on the balcony from the home support and it certainly looked plausible with the visitors’ hands on knees, taking in big gulps of air under the sticks, whilst receiving a stern talking-to from their passionate coach.



Things go from bad to worse for Chichester as their restart goes out on the full and Farnham have a midfield scrum, we win another penalty and go to the corner again. From the line-out, Farnham recycle and put together some decent phases despite some big Chichester tackles flying in, but Farham win an offside penalty and call for a Scrum, déjà vu seems likely to occur as Henderson picks from the base but is clattered with a no-arms high shot by his opposite man and after a lengthy chat the referee reveals a yellow card. 





From the penalty, quite bizarrely, Farnham kick to the corner, much to the bemusement of the spectators having seen the previous scums being so one-sided in Farnham’s favour – almost typically the lineout is askew, and Chichester have a chance to exit. You have to wonder why, with 14 on the pitch and a forward light, Farnham thought not to put the Chichester scrum to the sword. Chichester’s exit fails to find touch and Farnham have an excellent chance to counter from the halfway, they move the ball but opt to kick through and the kick goes dead… again a questionable option given the ease at which Ben Stevens scored from a similar position at the start of the game.



Chichester have a lineout and string some, albeit lateral, phases together and win a penalty from a high tackle, but miss touch yet again, Farnham look to counter but again they kick it away to nowhere in particular, much to the dismay of the Farnham Faithful, and give the sizeable Chichester 15 a chance to pick up some speed for the return. Chichester have 3 or 4 big carries and make some small gains, but Farnham secure a breakdown penalty and opt for the corner. The subsequent maul from the lineout is well-organised and Farnham break off from the base down the flank and look to have chance of getting in for a score, but a foot has clipped the touchline, Chichester lineout.



The visitor’s exit fails to find the safety of touch and this time Farnham do counter with ball in hand, working their way up the pitch, the mighty Harrison is released from the wild and stampedes through the middle swatting would-be defenders away like flies and is galloping into the 22, he looks for a speculative offload with both Toby Simmons and Toby Salmon in support screaming for it, but he loses the ball forward with the tryline begging – great creative play, just that last pass lacking. Farnham win a penalty from the resulting scrum and decide to scrum again and this time we get the ball out and good hands ensures the Flyer Stevens is in again for his 2nd in the left corner. Salmon cannot miss and the score is 21-0 with 5 minutes left in the half.



The last few moments of the 1st half would be forgetful at training let alone during a league game as both sides “spill the pill” and one advantage is lost to another and thankfully the ref is as frustrated as everyone else and blows the whistle for everyone to catch their breath. 21-0 and you’d expect Farnham to open up a tiring Chichester during the 2nd half.



From the restart Chichester seemed to have taken on board whatever expletives were belted in their ears and break away from the kick off with their 8 striding down the touchline. They stick to their simple game plan, the Farnham D being tested for the first time, and young Jack Buxton, on for Harrison, puts in a textbook tackle, driving his man back and Farnham win a breakdown turnover. Positive intent and continuity from the visitors but Farnham play the advantage and make yards up the right hand side, but the final pass is straight into touch, frustration again.



Chichester then look to get out of their half with a box kick from the 9, Stevens looks commanding in the air but is clattered with no attempt from his opposite number as he gathers the ball mid-air, but to the perplexity of everybody watching, the referee, who until this point had been having a very good game, adjudges it a fair contest and Farnham have to tidy and exit. Farnham win the ball back, then win another penalty and look to find the bottom left corner towards the Nursery. Catch and drive, rolling maul, try for the hooker Bemelmans, all in under 60 seconds from the throw in at the lineout. Easiest kick of the day for Salmon who makes it 28-0, try bonus secured, 5 points in the bag, with just under half an hour left. Sam Woodhams is on for Adam Pickett who enjoyed another strong performance at prop, with Tommy Allen replacing Toby Simmons.




Chichester then have their best period of the game and put heaps of pressure on the Farnham defence with relentless big ball carriers clattering into exposed soft shoulders, winning multiple advantages and taking quick taps from 3 consecutive penalties, final warning for Farnham from the ref and Chichester on the hunt for their first points of the afternoon. Joey Wood is forced off and Toby Simmons returns, but only to watch the visitors’ big runners bundle over for a score under the posts, and you have to say they deserved it, 28-7. Jack Bemelmans was throwing his body at everything and unfortunately breaks his collarbone in the process and his day is done, but not before the attending physio steps away to reveal the referee brandishing him with a yellow card, which he will begrudgingly take with him to Frimley Park to be x-rayed along with this shoulder.



The next 10 or so minutes is a smorgasbord of good play and unforced errors from both sides, whilst simultaneously showing both positive intent and basic errors, frustrating for the hosts, visitors and neutrals alike. Farnham win a penalty and look to bring some stability to proceedings with Salmon chipping 3 points over from 30m out, 31-7 with 5 minutes left.



Things start to get a bit tetchy after the restart and some puffed out chests and egos meet in a small scuffle, but eventually everyone realises that it’s not worth it and things calm down. Some more messy and inconsistent play from both teams, but Chichester do throw one last attack at Farnham and look to be in with a chance, but Woodhams makes an excellent tackle to prevent the final pass and force a knock on, to which the referee brings the match a close.



Final score 31-7, a fairly comfortable home win for Farnham who dominated the fixture more or less throughout. Being over-critical they would have wanted more after the start they had, but credit to Chichester who didn’t throw in the towel. Another 5 points for the black and whites, they remain unbeaten and retain 2nd place in the league.

Next week is a break week, with Farnham returning to action on November 9th away to Wimborne, the next home fixture is against Andover on Saturday 16th November, 14:30 kick off.




Podium: 3 – Greg Franzell | 2 – Ben Stevens | 1 – Oscar Henderson