Newly-promoted Farnham got their Regional One South Central campaign off to a perfect start with a 29-24 win at Hammersmith & Fulham.

Farnham started the game well with some early inroads, although the lineout wasn’t quite functioning.

It was the hosts who got the first score when a box kick wasn’t gathered and fell favourably to the left winger who just about had the legs to sprint clear and touch down in the corner.

The home team quickly extended their lead when a good exit gave them field position and they capitalised on some poor defending with their right winger sprinting clear to dot down for their second try.

Farnham continued to look threatening in attack with Joe Wigmore beating his man on numerous occasions. Alex Young and Joey Wood looked dangerous in the centres with halfback duo Ollie Brown and Harry West controlling the tempo effectively.

Hammersmith were resilient in defence but Farnham eventually broke them down with Max Williams doing well to collect a low pass and finish off in the corner. Ben Stevens converted to make it 12-7.

This would start a ten-minute blitz before half-time that proved to be crucial. Young made the initial break of the scrum before the ball was recycled and moved wide through the hands. Williams was involved again and offloaded inside to Wood who showed smart football skills to finish well in the corner.

Farnham then cleared their lines with Hammersmith’s backfield in disarray. Williams and Wood kicked behind and a knock on presented Farnham with another good opportunity. The scrum was powerful all game with the front three proving a handful. Oscar Henderson controlled it well from the base and dived over for Farnham’s third try to put the visitors 19-12 ahead at half-time.

Farnham looked to continue their momentum in the second half but faced a challenge playing into a stiff breeze.

The visitors got the first score of the second half when Jonny Vincent managed to ride two tacklers before offloading to Wigmore who showed his lethal finishing skills by beating the covering defence and scoring Farnham’s bonus-point try.

An attacking scrum for Hammersmith got them back in the game when a brilliant offload from the outside centre released the fullback down the wing who managed to flick his pass back infield to the left winger who finished off in the corner.

The game was finely balanced with Farnham wanting another score to give them some breathing room. The ball was turned over in the 22 with Farnham looking to break out. A wide pass from Vincent found Stevens who broke down the wing and gave it back inside to Vincent. He was stopped 40 metres out however the ball was moved wide to Sam Voight then Toby Salmon who put in the striding Henderson for his second try of the match to make it 29-17.

Hammersmith refused to back down and Farnham were reduced to 14 men when Williams was shown a yellow card.

With five minutes remaining, a well-executed driving maul secured the home team a losing bonus point and got them to within a score.

Hammersmith threw everything to try to snatch a win, but Farnham’s defence stood firm and forced a knock on to secure their first win of the season.

By Toby Salmon