Farnham 27 Tottonians 19 – Report

Rarely has the phrase “we didn’t get off the bus” been more apt.  Straight from the off, Farnham were allowed easy entry to the Totts 22, a couple of close drives sucked in the defence, unfortunately a knock on was missed, and two wide passes allowed the Farnham right winger to dot down untouched.

Farnham continued to dominate both possession and territory.  Totts malfunctioning lineout meant they were unable to gain any foothold in the game, and on the back of another lineout error, Farnham were able to play their way in Totts red zone again and their lively openside added their second.  It was converted again, and 10 minutes in, the hosts were 14 points up.

Totts started to gain a little territory on the back of some close drives and pick and go’s.  Unfortunately it was to go unrewarded as Robbie Searle’s penalty came back off the upright.

Farnham made no such error minutes later, as an offside penalty against Totts enabled them to extend their lead to 17.

At last a response came, as a series of penalties allowed Totts to set up a lineout close to Farnham’s line. After a series of drives, it was the returning Andy McEwen who forced his way over, Searle this time adding the extras.

Thoughts of a comeback, however, were short-lived.  Just two minutes later Farnham again went through the phases and a grubber in behind Totts scrambling defence saw their left winger dive over.  The half ended with Totts forcing a bit more pressure in Farnham’s 22, but a crossing penalty brought the half to an end with Totts trailing 22-7.

The away changing room was no place for the fainthearted, and there was an immediate response from Totts.  Another line-out win in Farnham’s 22 led to some strong carries by Scott Rogers and Cam Flint, before the maul was driven over with Bruno Nascimbene coming up with the five pointer.  The conversion was missed but a ten point deficit with almost a half to go certainly gave Totts hope.

They dominated territory and possession for the next 15 minutes, without troubling the scoreboard and just before the hour mark came the defining swing.  Connor Andrews took an excellent inside ball before feeding Ethan Riley who was tackled just short of the line.  However, a forward pass gave Farnham the respite of a defensive scrum.  They attacked up the short side, going almost the length of the pitch before recycled ball allowed their fly-half to dot down for the bonus point try.

With 20 minutes still to play, heads could have dropped at the momentum crushing swing, but to their credit, Totts came back again.  As the scrum started to dominate, they again found themselves on Farnham’s line, this time captain Liam Murphy appearing with the ball after another successful set of drives.  Searle’s conversion made it 27-19 and with 14 minutes still on the clock there was renewed hope of at least claiming bonus points.

However, for all the endeavour the next score never came.

There were two or three close calls, a forward pass and a knock-on costing Totts within metres of the line, and the scoreline remained unchanged.  The second half had seen some improvement, but against a quality team, the deficit was always likely to be too much after such a poor first 40.

It was best described as a bad day at the office, but there is no time for self-pity as two back-to-back home games and a trip to Bournemouth come before Christmas.  Next Saturday sees North Dorset visit Water Lane; the response needs to be significant.

TOTTONIANS POINT SCORERS:
1 try – Andy McEwen (available to sponsor)
1 try – Bruno Nascimbene (sponsored by Mildren Construction)
1 try – Liam Murphy (sponsored by Osman Originals
2 conversions – Robbie Searle (available to sponsor)

Hear what Robbie Searle and Alex Robinson had to say at full-time in our exclusive post match video.