This weekend looked like being a quiet training session, due to half term absences and several injuries, and having to decline a full friendly fixture at Farnham as a result. However, Farnham then contacted us to say that their President Geoff Bond had sadly passed away and they would like us to be a part of a memorial match to celebrate and remember Geoff and his contribution to Farnham RFC. We of course accepted the invitation and headed to Farnham to support our rugby brothers.
Farnham had also invited Petersfield RFC to include a few local players, as well as one from Camberley, so our c.14 Colts were mixed with these and the 20+ home players to form a Presidents' XV and a BaaBaas XV. Coach Josh led the BaaBaas, and we played 4 quarters sporting Farnham home and away kits.
The Presidents' XV led 7-0 after the first 1/4, 19-5 after the second, 31-5 after the third, and 31-10 at the final whistle. The Colts produced a few moments of great skill and team play considering they were scratch teams, and equally some moments of comical knock-ons and missed passes when players weren't where they were expected to be. Some fierce tackling showed that everyone wanted to put on a strong performance, and our travellers did end up with a number of injuries as the fixture remained competitive to the end. A nice touch was the try scorers being asked to take conversions, with the highlight being the huge Petersfield prop hitting the crossbar with his first drop goal attempt, and then shanking it 45 degrees with his second.
All the players took part in a minute's applause at the start of the match, and the Farnham coaches were very grateful for our support and attendance on the day.

by Phil Wells