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Match report for Sat 17th Oct 2009 @ 14:00, 1st XV

Farnham continued their winning streak with a deserved victory at home over Shire Hall.

Summary

Farnham continued their winning streak with a deserved victory at home over Shire Hall. Excellent forward play and some fine running rugby from the backline saw off the visitors and put the game out of reach after the first half. Steve Sirett was the Penn’s man of the match after running in two superb tries from the wing, and defending solidly. Penn’s high on confidence and backing their ability converted a strong performance to a winning margin of 41 unanswered points.

First Half

Farnham kicked off to what looked like a big and mobile Shire Hall pack, after some early exchanges the Shire Hall number 8 had to come off with a shoulder injury. This clearly dented the confidence of Shire Hall and Penn’s immediately capitalised on this playing some good phase play to get near the Shire Hall 22, after a penalty award Mark Beel was on hand to slot over 3 – 0 to the home side. From the receiving kick off Penn’s went on the attack again and Mike Alsen was unlucky to have a try disallowed for a forward pass. With the Penn’s front five performing excellently a solid platform was provided for the back row to attack the Shire Hall half backs. Rob Freeman at scrum half was also on hand to harass his opposite number, and fittingly Rob opened the Penn’s try scoring account with a good solo try ducking out from the base of the scrum to duck under the back row tackle. Again Mark Beel was on hand to convert 10-0 to the home side. Luckily for Mark the vigorous pre-game warm up routine had been followed to the letter and, shortly after the restart, he was able to chip over the advancing Shire Hall line and successfully chase and collect the ball to score without popping his hamstring or anything else a man of his advanced age is susceptible to. This exertion clearly affected his kicking as the resulting conversion was missed. Steve Sirett was then on hand to take Penns into half time 22-0, with some interesting refereeing Penn’s also went into half time with two in the sin bin. Discipline was discussed at half time along with Tom (Daddy bear) Sutherland’s recent trip to Brighton and how he declared it a cock-a-thon!! This clearly unsettled the other front row, but for the more intellectually advanced of the squad, the piece’s of the puzzle slotted into place, and the whereabouts of the missing Toni (& Guy) Flore were agreed.

Second Half

Onwards and upwards Penn’s received the kick off and buoyed by the confidence instilled in the first half and players returning from the sin bin began to run Shire Hall ragged. Typical strong running from Jamie Moffat resulted in a converted try to take the lead to 29-0. With the return of the Penn’s players from the sin bin discipline was agreed and the lead was stretched to 34-0 after an unconverted try from Mike Alsen, taking a quick tap penalty to squeeze over the line. Bizarrely enough a Penn’s player was again sent to the bin shortly after. This roused Shire Hall into action and some excellent defence from Mike Alsen and Steve Sirett kept them from crossing the line. Once the balance of numbers was resumed Penn’s finally put the game to bed with a fine solo effort from Steve Sirett collecting from deep and running strongly back at the Shire Hall dog leg defence to score under the posts, Beel with zimmer frame in tow was on hand to convert. 41-0 win.