Sat 8 Feb 2025
Farnham Royal 19 Shire Hall 26
On a very grey and dank day, Shire Hall were looking to improve on their performance against Bracknell the previous week. A full squad was once on view with the luxury of four finishers including a returning Geoff O’Brien for his usual cameo. From the very first plays, Shire took the game to Farnham Royal and much good territory was gained by the Shire Hall backs. After only 3 minutes, Shire took the lead when the juggernaut that is Will Jellicoe powered his way over from close range and record his 5th try for the club. Matt Margot added the extra points and that was the start that Shire wanted. Five minutes later after some excellent hands by Dave Tridgell, Jack Kane and Jonny Parry put Ashton Field into space to score under the posts, giving Matt Margot the simplest of tasks of adding the extra points. The weather conditions posed problems for both sides as passes went astray and balls were fumbled. Despite good service from the base of the scrum by Kris Sharma, Shire could not break through a more resolute Farnham Royal defence. On the half hour a serious injury to a Farnham Royal player caused the game to be suspended temporarily by the referee who sent both teams back to the changing rooms. We wish him the speediest of recoveries. After a 15-minute delay, the referee restarted the game. This seemed to galvanise Farnham Royal, and it was only some good defence work by Shire that kept the score at 14-0. However, with two minutes of the half remaining, it was Farnham Royal who broke through to open their account. This seemed to be the wake-up call that Shire needed and after more good handling in the backs, Ashton Field again found open space to leave the Farnham Royal defence in his wake and record his second try of the game. Matt Margot added the conversion to put Shire in a commanding position.
Half Time Score: Farnham Royal 7 Shire Hall 21
The suspension of play in the first half clearly had disrupted Shire’s open play and Farnham Royal scored a try with a delightful kick to the winger who went over. The was a carbon copy of a try that Shire conceded against Bracknell a week earlier. The conversion was added successfully, and Farnham Royal were only 7 points behind. Shire the decided to run ball through the forwards and good ground was gained by Ollie Homan-Green, Lloyd Weber, Dan Smedley and Will Jellicoe. On the back of this good platform, the ball was transferred to the backs who passed the ball efficiently along the line for Alistair McGregor to score his first try for the club. Matt Margot could not land the difficult conversion but some of Shire’s earlier domination had come back. However, there are times when Shire shoot themselves in the foot with sloppy play. A good attacking position was lost with a misplaced pass and suddenly Farnham Royal had kicked the ball into Shire’s 22. Fortunately, good defensive work by Jonny Parry saved the day. With 5 minutes remaining, Farnham Royal scored again to set up a nail-biting finish. Good game management was vital now, and Shire did this magnificently. Shire were awarded a penalty as the last play but unlike at Bracknell last week, Dave Tridgell took the sensible decision to tap the ball and then kick the ball off the park.
This was Shire’s 3rd victory in their last 4 matches and as a result moved up to 5th in the league. Next week’s opponents are league leaders Henley III and Shire will be hoping to produce a better performance this time around. Attendance at training last week was much improved and this was clearly evident up to the point the play was suspended.
Final Score: Farnham Royal 19 Shire Hall 26
Tries: Will Jellicoe, Ashton Field (2), Alistair McGregor
Conversions: Matt Margot (3)
MOTM: Ashton Field – an absolute menace throughout the game
DOTD: Ollie Homan-Green – giving away a needless penalty under our own posts!
