CHARLTON PARK 17, FARNHAM 14

THERE will be no return to Twickenham for Farnham this year, but their young side gave a tremendous effort at Broad Walk on Saturday and made Charlton Park work mighty hard for the narrow victory that sends them through to the RFU Intermediate Cup regional semi-finals.

Farnham, who won the Senior Vase in their promotion season last May, were forced to field a much-changed side and the club spirit was epitomised by the appearance on the bench of 40-something prop and club captain Barney Hart.

With six changes in the pack and two in the backs, Farnham faced a formidable task against Charlton Park, currently fourth in London 2SE and last season’s defeated Intermediate Cup finalists.

Superbly marshalled throughout by Pete Daly, driving on his young pack, and Michael Salmon, steering the backs, the visitors missed out by just three points.

Sleety drizzle and a greasy ball threatened to spoil the spectacle in this first meeting of the clubs, but both sides played their part in a full-on, old-style tussle.

The Farnham tyros threw themselves at their opponents in open play, Reece de Gruchy, Jordan Frost and James Franklin putting their bodies on the line in tackle and ruck.

The untried front row fought valiantly in the tight – the only part of the game where Farnham were taken to the cleaners.

Experience counts for a lot in the dark arts of the scrum and the Park heavies in the front row – Terry Read, Chris Bristow and Beau Stanford-Francis – had that know-how in spades.

Honours were even for 15 minutes. Farnham had the edge territorially, with Toby Salmon’s probing kicks giving them good field position and scrum-half Oli Brown sniping around the fringes.

Salmon kicked a penalty to the corner, the lineout was successful and, from the back of the maul, Daly bundled his way over under the posts. Easy extras for Toby Salmon and Farnham led 7-0.

But not for long. Charlton reclaimed the ball from the restart and Jeremy Montes, after featuring prominently in the build-up, scored the equalising try, Alan Knuckey adding the conversion.

Farnham coaches Gary Stennett and Andy James were soon ringing the changes. Gianluca De Nardi replaced Marco Azevedo and Dan Williams came on for the luckless Jordan Frost, injured again.

The visitors had the upper hand at this stage and were unlucky not to regain the lead, Salmon twice missing kickable penalties in the tricky conditions.

They paid the price just before half-time when the Londoners, first held up under the posts, shunted Farnham backwards. Jemi-Akin Olugbade dived in from the side of the scrum and Park were awarded a penalty try; 14-7 at the break.

The weather worsened for the second half and again the rugby was attritional, with no quarter asked or given. Charlton Park still dominated the scrums, but it was even-stevens at the lineouts, with Farnham’s back row edging the breakdowns.

Playing down the slight slope, Farnham made ground through Daly’s driving runs, while the trio of James Franklin, Azevedo and De Nardi ate up the yards.

With Park under the cosh, Toby Salmon again kicked to the corner; the catch-and-drive was successful and Yeomans was unstoppable from the heart of the maul. Salmon converted and it was all-square again at 14-14. All to play for.

The prospect of extra time was not attractive and with the sides slugging it out in midfield, the next score was likely to be decisive.

The tireless work in defence was a tribute to the fitness and sheer bloody-mindedness of both sides, but as the hour-mark approached, Charlton’s heavy runners made ground through the middle for the vital breakthrough. Farnham were penalised for not releasing and Knuckey kicked the three points.

Farnham gave it everything in the remaining time, but failed to turn several promising attacks into points and were unable to take advantage when Charlton lost replacement Luke Boyns to the sin-bin.

On balance, the home side deserved their victory for the dominance of their front row.

Farnham can now concentrate on consolidating their sixth place in London 2SW. They are away to Effingham this Saturday and hope that Toby Salmon will have recovered from the back injury sustained in the cup match.

• Farnham President’s Podium Points: Pete Daly 3, Mike Salmon 2, Gareth Yeomans 1.

• Camberley reached the Intermediate Cup regional semi-finals after being given a walkover by Woodford RFC.