Farnham won 35-27 at home to London Scottish Lions in Regional One South Central.

Farnham started well with the front row of Adam Pickett, Jonny Vincent and Marco Azevedo dominating the first scrum. Harry West released Oscar Henderson down the right with a penalty awarded moments later. The hosts kicked to the corner and set up the rolling maul well and Pickett dived over for his first try of the season. The successful conversion made it 7-0.

The set piece was giving Farnham an excellent platform and they were creating several opportunities. Farnham’s attack was well balanced with half-backs Harry West and Ollie Brown in full control. After a few close phases Farnham eventually broke down the Lions’ defence when Toby Salmon’s offload released Alex Young who finished off well in the corner. The successful conversion made it 14-0.

The Lions put some attacking phases together and tested Farnham defensively for the first time until the hosts forced a knock on.

A Farnham lineout in their own 22 came loose and Matt Kouris pounced on the ball and broke away before being brought down on the halfway line. The ball was recycled and was moved down the line through Brown and Salmon before Young released the speedy Ben Stevens who won the footrace and scored in the corner. The successful conversion made it 21-0.

The Lions came back and used their rolling maul effectively to score their first try in the left-hand corner to make it 21-5.

With five minutes left in the half, Farnham wanted to finish strongly and were awarded a penalty five metres out. They elected to scrum and the forwards drove towards the line with Henderson controlling the ball well and dotting down for the bonus point try. The successful conversion gave Farnham a commanding 28-5 lead at half-time.

Farnham kicked off the second half and carried on where they left off. They spent the first five minutes camped in the Lions’ 22 but couldn’t take their chances and the first 15 minutes of the second half were scoreless.

A Farnham scrum gave them a good platform, however a loose pass was scooped up by the Lions’ fly half who showed good pace to score in the corner and make it 28-10.

Jeff Leybourne came on in the front row for Farnham and Joey Wood came on in the centres. A missed penalty from Farnham kept the gap at 18 points, but the hosts did score again moments later when Wood broke through the middle and brilliantly got an offload away to Salmon who had an easy run in. The successful conversion made it 35-10.

The Lions started attacking with freedom and a brilliant offload from their winger found their fly half who acrobatically dived in at the corner for his second try to make it 35-15.

Minutes later the Lions were in again and their scrum half finished off the move and added the conversion to make it 35-22 with five minutes remaining.

Nerves were starting to appear among home supporters and when a speculative crossfield kick was well collected by the Lions’ right winger and finished off in the corner, the crowd was stunned. The conversion was missed and the score was 35-27 with two minutes remaining, but Farnham held on.

By Toby Salmon