Farnham Rugby Club returned to winning ways with a 32-27 victory at home to Wimborne in Regional Two South Central.
After ten minutes the match was scoreless. Then Fin Sloan charged down a Wimborne clearing kick. The ball was scooped up by Toby Salmon who offloaded to Toby Simmonds who went over out wide.
Farnham’s attack was looking dangerous and a penalty inside the Wimborne half allowed a kick to the corner and rolling maul attack. 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 and make it 12-0.
Wimborne managed to build some phases and eventually found space down the right-hand side for their winger to dot down in the corner.
A set piece move produced a break down the right wing by Max Williams, and with the ball quickly recycled Marcus Lambert-Parsons broke multiple tackles and scored under the posts to make it 19-5.
Farnham kicked off the second half looking to maintain their momentum. 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 Oscar Henderson who dived in under the posts for Farnham’s bonus-point try.
Wimborne provided an immediate response through a good individual try from their rumbustious 12 who beat three defenders to go over in the corner to make it 26-10.
Midway through the second half, the momentum shifted in Wimborne’s favour. Farnham could not keep hold of the ball and had to make a lot of tackles. The home side’s defence was eventually broken when a long ball over the top allowed a simple run for a try scored in the corner to make it 26-15.
Farnham were guilty of a mounting penalty count which cost them field position. A series of close carries got Wimborne close to Farnham’s line, giving the inside centre the chance to power over to secure a bonus-point try and make it 26-20 with ten minutes to play.
Farnham responded with an easy three penalty points moments later to make it 29-20.
However, Wimborne refused to lie down and with two minutes left on the clock their fly half sneaked through a gap to score under the posts. The conversion made it 29-27.
From the restart Farnham won a penalty in the right-hand corner. Salmon used up all his time before slotting the kick through the posts to seal Farnham’s 32-27 victory.