Rugby News: The Sportsman's Lunch is back!

The Sportsman's Lunch is back!

The Club is delighted to confirm that the guest speaker for the Sportsman’s Lunch on Friday 22nd April will be none other than Bath, Gloucester and England centre Mike Tindall.

Doors for the social event of the year will open at noon and lunch will be served at 1.30pm.

Many of you pre-paid for your tickets for when the event was originally scheduled in 2020 before the pandemic struck. The club is forever grateful for letting us hang on to the cash during those dark days and now is the time to enjoy it!

Please check that you are on that list and confirm your attendance by email to:
sportsmanslunch@farnhamrugby.org

For those who converted their prepayment into a donation and those wanting to buy tickets afresh, these can be bought from Friday 4th March 2022 via the online club shop https://www.farnhamrugby.org/payments.

A single ticket costs £80 and a table of ten £800.

Please make your purchases and/or confirm your attendance as soon as possible so we can plan for numbers.

The lunch will feature the usual fabulous Auction. If you have something unique to offer up for the auction, please contact John Wickens. There will also be a silent auction, heads and tails and the usual relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

Get down to the club for
Saturday's Big Game(s)

This Saturday the 1st XV welcomes Chichester in the league. They are two places above us and, had we not granted them a couple of really soft tries early on, the game at their place was eminently winnable. After the gritty win at Guildford, the boys will be well up for this and it has all the makings of a classic.

There are two other games at home on the day with the Warriors playing Trinity and the Barbarians host Portsmouth. The 1s and 3s KO at 15.00 and the 4s at 14.00.

All are welcome to the Supporters Lunch ahead of these games.

With kick off at 15.00, we'll gather for lunch at 13.15 to sit at 13.30

The price of a lunch of steak and ale pie with seasonal vedge, cheese and coffee is £20 per head. The money will be collected electronically (no cash). Gerry will be on hand to take your payments at the bar and will then issue you with a raffle ticket for the wonderful prizes that will be on offer!

Book your seats by emailing chairman@farnhamrugby.org.

See you there.

Free "movement" session for Shed members.

Body Control is the new class at The Shed from coach Matt Crane, focussing on control over movement, being strong in positions, expanding range of movement and joint health.

Matt is offering a FREE one-to-one movement session to the first five FRUFC members to email theshed@farnhamrugby.org so get in touch to secure your spot.

There are huge benefits to be had from lower impact work with a focus on correcting movement, rather than running around sweating all the time! Matt’s aim is to help people better understand their bodies and improve functional movement specific to their individual needs.

This offer celebrates six months since Simon Shaw lifted the barbell to officially open The Shed.

Since September, we’ve signed up 270 members, with players using the fitness suite for squad training, strength & conditioning and rehab as well as non-playing members, friends and family training in their own time or joining classes.

We’ve a great range of classes for members to try, run by our top team of coaches. Choose from Body Control, LiFT, Bellates, Diverse HiiT, Functional Circuits, Power Hour, WOD Squad, ETF and Sunday Community Fitness. Or if you’re after something more bespoke, there’s one to one or small group PT available.

Don't delay! Join today!

You can find out more via theshed.frufc.co.uk or follow The Shed on Instagram and Facebook for regular updates.

Future looking fine.

With Saturday’s 1st XV’s match against KCS postponed due to an “unplayable pitch” up at New Malden, it was down Farnham’s women and the future generations of senior men to provide the rugby at Monkton Lane on Sunday.

The U16s Boys faced Old Reedonians RFC (AKA Reeds) and the Academy (U17/U18 Boys) took on Dorking RFC (pictured above) in Quins Cup matches. Both Farnham teams were comfortably victorious in fast, open games against talented and resilient opposition. With the matches played and well supported on adjacent pitches, it was a great advertisement for junior rugby.

At half time, Farnham were up 17-0 in the Academy game with tries from Will Wickens, Oliver Buckton and Max Williams – the last try converted by Tom Humphreys. Dorking struck back with a couple of tries in the second half, but the black and whites continued to pile on the points with tries from Ben Barham and Nemesio Qiatabua. Final score 29-12.

In recent weeks, Farnham’s U16s have turned around their indifferent start to the season with some good wins and this cup encounter was no exception. See full report from Dominic Parker below.

U16s turn the season round in style.

Old Reedonians (aka Reeds) are always a strong side at every age group. A well run club with proper, old school facilities that seem to attract the right type of rugby player and supporter! Their side is littered with Quins players so for a visit to Farnham for this age group, we knew we’d be up against it. We had boys unavailable, others with last minute injury niggles and soon after kick off we lost our new star centre Oscar, followed by Benjy – the signs were ominous.

Coaches Chris Cowman and talisman Rich Best (often reminding us of his unbeaten record this year; It’s an easy game from the side line Rich!) prepped the side well. Steve Douglas, coach and referee extraordinaire, held the whistle for the day.

The brilliant Farnham pitches had dried out and with the sun shining, we had all the ingredients required for an absolute stonker! The boys didn’t disappoint! Farnham kicked off with the wind at their backs and knew they’d need to make the most of this advantage. The boys’ preference, much to the delight of the considerable crowd was to keep the ball in hand and put muscle to the test.

Digression - Farnham really are blessed with the best facilities! Steve Baird and his bevvy of trainers from our onsite gym The Shed, have recently put the U16 squad through their paces. The majority have been on the Learn to Lift programme and it’s paying dividends. Thanks Steve!

Back to match – The boys new found strength gave them the confidence to carry and carry hard. Reeds didn’t know what hit them. Strong carries from Isaac (a rock all day) and a heroic performance from Jack put Reeds on the back foot. Despite a strong defensive game they found themselves locked in their 22 and were no answer to the try burglar that is Josh Warner, who put in a real shift in his first outing at hooker 5-0.

There was very little to choose between the two teams. Reeds appeared to have the advantage in the scrum however in the other facets of the game it was all Farnham. Despite challenges retaining the ball our fitness told and when we did lose it, we worked hard to wrestle it back – normally in the shape of pack leader Sam Baker snaffling turnover ball. And with possession came territory. With a new found skillset from his Brunel half term camp (did anyone know the author had been there last week?) Oskar Parker made a strong break through the middle. Support came fast from the horrible 6/7 duo Hamish McLeod and Carson Barrass and further carries deep into Reeds 22 allowed Hamish to go over - 12-0.

Reeds weren’t prepared to lie down and continued to make ground. They liked their left winger who was strong and fast. Pitted against our own firecracker Eddie Buckton, we had a competition on our hands! That Reeds 11 was winning the competition at half time 0-1. He made a break out of the 22 and rounded Eddie and was gone only for our very own Captain Fantastic, Fin Hills, to chop him down on half way and win the lineout. The half finished with the game in the balance at 12-0.

There are lots of rewarding things about coaching this group. Those without a game trained on the adjacent overflow area and every one of them came to join the supporters on the side line. The reason? This is a squad, not a team. All of those boys have featured in the A team and B team fixtures this year, a testament to the strength and togetherness of this group. Our Head Coach Gav needs to take most of the credit for this.

The half-time messages from the coaches were: 1) Retain the ball and carry it in both hands (Reeds were targeting the ball in the tackle); 2) Line speed in defence; 3) Eddie – make their flashy winger’s life really unpleasant “He is very fast, but I’ll try!” was the response!

Given our “carry hard” strategy and addressing Point 1, playing in to the wind in the second half did not work against us. Sam Baker carried the mantel for Point 2. Soon after the kick off, a long clearance kick, deep into Reeds 22 bobbled awkwardly on the firm ground. The 15 looked up to see Sam first on the scene, proceeded to underestimate his long reach and used his footwork to get him out of trouble. Sam tackled, bounced and jackaled. Penalty Farnham. Sam Cowman was on hand with a quick tap and over he went. Just desserts for his man of the match performance.

Farnham were on the ascendancy, and the kick chase intensity was paying dividends. Reeds continued to attack hoping their 11 would maintain his winning record – sadly not. Eddie stepped up and caused havoc with counter attack and defence. I lost count – but it probably ended 5-1 or 6-1 in Eddies’ favour #obvs! Reeds attacking intent continued to be thwarted and before long we were back in the green zone. A string of passing & carrying put Will Houghton over in the corner. To Reeds’ credit they didn’t give up and despite some heroic defence by Josh Warner’s face they went over with a try of their own. Final Score – 26-5

There were lots of notable performances in this game, too many to mention. A couple of extras worthy of call out – Fin Best with another solid performance at 10 and Jaspar marshalling and counter attacking from 15 on a very difficult day! Final mention much go to the Cowman’s “Triple Crown” – Chris for Coaching. Tam for “on the day” medical. Sam for Man of the match which means you get the dubious honour of washing the match kit! A team performance, led by Team Cowman!

U15s overcome a combined side

Report by Jon Worsley.

A lovely morning of rugby played under the sunshine in south-west London saw the U15Bs triumph over a joint Kingston/Old Emmanuels 48-24, although the morning didn’t start so brightly as sickness and injuries hit the squad. A big thanks to those boys who were dragged out of bed as back up.

The game was that old cliché of a game of two halves, each of them bringing different challenges for the boys. The first half we were dynamic across the park, scoring 7 of our 8 tries using our speed and agility. With the back line hitting some good angles the boys scored some great ‘team’ tries in the corners. Quick rucking and some big hits in the centre of the park meant we dominated most of the contact zones and took a 43 point lead into the second half.

As discussed with their coaches before, Kingston/OES (who have a big squad to rotate) brought on their big guys upfront and fast runners in the backs but it was our boys who got off to flyer and scored the first try of the second half. Then, and probably inevitably, the fresh legs of the opposition took advantage while our boys seemed to lose some structure by positional changes that were forced on us by injuries. Kingston scored 4 quick tries. A water break during a stop in play for an injury and the coaches told the boys to refocus, which they did spending the last 5 mins of the half camped on the opposition’s line but couldn’t quite get the ball over the whitewash for their 9th score of the day.

Lots of positives from the day, the biggest one being the smiles on their faces after a more competitive game than the score line suggests.

Tries - Keegan Olverman x2, Dougie Black. Charles Swann, Will Donoghue, Daniel Wardrope, Ed Jolley and Fin McManus. Conversions - Patrick Sykes x 4

In a season hit by the pandemic, a number of women’s league games have been called off, but both our Falcons and Chobham Women have been available for every commitment and were separated at the top of the table by just one point. On the day Chobham took the points running out winners 20-35 with Jade McClune (above), Beki Hardman and Zoe Robinson securing the points for the home side.

Next Sunday (all being well) marks a historic day for women's rugby at Farnham as we field two sides on the day. The Falcons 1st XV entertain Abbey Nuns while the Falcons 2nd XV travels to East Grinstead.

Go girls!