Farnham won 33-30 at Penns Place against Petersfield in a competitive South Central Two clash on Saturday.

Smarting from their defeat away at Andover in their previous match, Petersfield welcomed an unbeaten Farnham side who were in second place in the South Central Two league table before the game.

The match was the first time the two clubs have met in a competitive first team fixture for more than 20 years.

Farnham started strongly and playing into the bright sun their pack were the equal to Petersfield in set scrums. The hosts faced three scrums in quick succession and lost ground to the visitors, bringing Farnham within metres of the tryline, and Oscar Henderson duly scored a converted try after six minutes.

Petersfield secured possession and in a series of phases found they could kick to touch for a penalty lineout, where they mauled the ball downfield for Nic Wilde to dot down at the base on 13 minutes for an unconverted try.

The hosts were back on the scoreboard after a further penalty lineout catch and rolling maul. When the maul broke down Dan Sargent ran on to a pop pass to muscle his way through two tacklers to score just to the right of the posts. Nick Blumlein added the extras to put Petersfield 12-7 ahead.

At the start of the second quarter Farnham seized an opportunity to use their hosts penalty lineout technique and in a powerful rolling maul Greg Franzel crashed over to score an unconverted try in the right corner to make it 12-12.

From a scrum Farnham won their put in and some slick handling, pace and footwork saw their backline shift the ball to the wing for Ben Stevens to streak down the right wing round the tryline inside the corner post and touch down under the goalposts. Toby Salmon added the conversion to put Farnham 19-12 ahead.

Petersfield were inside Farnham’s 22 when a penalty for offside two minutes before half-time gave Blumlein the opportunity for a successful kick at goal to make it 19-15.

A further rolling maul from Petersfield moved closer to the right touch inside the Farnham 22 before the ball carrier changed direction and passed the ball to prop Sargent to power though to score a converted try. Petersfield led 22-19 at half-time.

At the start of the second half Farnham’s kick-off was successful taken by their hosts beyond their ten-metre line. Through a series of moves bringing the back row and centres into play the ball was passed from the left to the right wing where Miles Sampson received the final pass at speed, escaped two tackles and dotted down for a try in the corner. Blumlein was unsuccessful with the difficult conversion, but Field led 27-19.

Farnham were next to score after a penalty was awarded some 30 metres out and Salmon cleanly bisected the posts to bring the score to 27-22.

A penalty and a yellow card for a high tackle by Tommy Allen gave Blumlein the chance to successful kick for three points to make it 30-22.

With 20 minutes left in the half Salmon cleanly executed a penalty kick to make the score 30-25. Petersfield now attempted to defend and, where possible, retain possession without being penalised, to run down the clock and preserve their narrow lead.

This tactic was reasonably successful until a yellow card for Blumlein when he was adjudged to have deliberately knocked on as Farnham encroached into Petersfield’s 22. A series of penalties and picks and drives resulted in a try for Sam Voight to make the score 30-30.

Petersfield could not breach Farnham’s excellent defence and were once again penalised for offside, and Salmon successfully kicked for three points on the final whistle to give the visitors a thrilling win.

This was an even, competitive and exciting game to watch and a great improvement by Petersfield compared to their previous week’s efforts against Andover. Field were ultimately beaten, but had shown that they can mix it with the other top teams in the league.

Petersfield will hope to return to winning ways when they travel to Chobham on Saturday, while Farnham will host Chichester at Wilkinson Way.

By Chris Todd