Sat 14 Jan 2023, 14:00
Farnham Royal 38 Shire Hall 12
After last week’s luxury of having 6 subs, Shire travelled to Farnham with just the one sub – the half-broken Rhys Stewart. The early exchanges were all Shire as Farnham conceded penalties from which Alex Webb found some excellent touches. Despite the possession, Shire could not find a way through and it was against the run of play when a hopeful kick upfield found no one in the Shire backfield and the resulting chase led to the opening score by Farnham. A second Farnham try came soon after when they broke through again. Both tries were converted to leave Shire 14-0 down despite a fair amount of possession. Farnham’s third try had a hint of offside when two players appeared at the back of a Shire ruck and steal the ball to go over. As the half came to a close, it was Neil Evans who appeared in the 5-metre channel and despite the attention of three defenders, he swallowed dived, Johnny May-like, to open the Shire scoring wide on the left. The resulting conversion was superbly landed by Rhys Stewart who had come on for a lame Luke Barefoot.
Half Time Score: Farnham Royal 21 Shire Hall 7
The second half saw Shire continue to dominate but not succeed in scoring due to some poor handling and decision making. Mind you there were highlights especially when Will Jellicoe caught his opposite number with a bone-crunching tackle and Will Myers’ superb hand-off of a Farnham defender – unfortunately the referee deemed the hand off to be illegal! Finally, Matt Margot managed to wriggle over from close range to reduce the deficit to just 9 points. Instead of turning the screw, Shire seemed to go to sleep when another hopeful kick by Farnham landed between 4 Shire defenders who all watched it bounce fortuitously back into Farnham hands and then go over unopposed under the posts. The scoreline now had a 17-point difference and despite some good runs by Rhys Stewart and James Pritchard, nothing came in Shire’s favour. A last minute try by Farnham made the scoreline look unfair considering Shire’s positive approach. Set pieces are good with the Farnham pack going backwards in most scrums but Shire need to work on their decision making. But a good competitive game played in good spirit from which Shire can build on.
Final Score: Farnham Royal 38 Shire Hall 12
Tries: Neil Evans, Matt Margot
Conversion: Rhys Stewart
MOTM: Will Jellicoe
DOTD: James Pritchard
