In the face of appalling conditions, Winchester stood up and won a narrow 11 – 7 victory over Farnham to move into second place in the league.

Nobody would call this a classic as the unpredictable wind and decisions made it difficult to for the game to flow. At home, with as strong a set of forwards as we have seen all season, Winchester were initially able to dominate the opposition. In their own backyard, it looked like they could win comfortably as the set pieces functioned seamlessly. For twenty minutes they kicked, pushed and pinned Farnham in their own half. Tommy Hare, playing at full back, kicked a three-point penalty, as Farnham buckled.

As the game restarted, Farnham’s hooker George Haylett did not get up from an intense passage of forward play. It took a considerable time before the physios of both teams were able to carefully stretcher him from the field and the game to continue. We are delighted to report that George was discharged later that evening and looks forward to getting back to the pitch soon.

Adjustments, strategy and tactics had been refined in the unfortunate interval and now it was Farnham who took the momentum forward. When they managed to get their hands on the ball, they controlled possession well. At half time, with only a single penalty between them, it might have been the away team who went in most pleased with the way they had fought back.

In the second half Farnham’s backs showed what a class act they were, skilfully passing at pace in the wet conditions. Coach Gaz Martin quite rightly had nothing but praise for his nine forwards who stopped Farnham’s attacks; but whenever the ball was lost, and Farnham took it wide, it was the young backs Alex Mawdsley, Kyle Dreyer, Tom Banks, and Tommy Hare whose dynamic lateral movement, shuttling into repeated defensive sets, that held the line. 

Farnham’s full back Jack Scullion, with the gale behind him, repeatedly kicked Winchester deep into their own territory. Pressure was heaped on Winchester forcing them to respond. Whilst Winchester might not always have made the right decisions in the conditions, unusually kicking possession away, they had a will to win, even when bizarrely they were down to 13 men. 

On the one occasion they carried the ball deep into the opposition half they scored. From a lineout Patrick Dunne, outstanding today, took the ball in for a series of drives. As the forwards hammered at the line, Farnham infringed. The ref blew for a penalty and Tom Fieldsend was quickest to react with a dive and spin to ground the ball. The wind denied a good conversion attempt by Hare, but against the run of play Winchester were now 8 – 0 ahead. 

With ten minutes to go, Farnham finally got on the scoreboard when the ball was moved wide to Nathan Phillimore who cut in to beat his opposite man and power over in the corner. He converted his own try to make it 8-7.

It was anybody’s game at this point and Farnham might rue their lack of clinical finishing as, for only the second time in the half, Winch carried the ball into the opposition 22 metre zone. Under pressure from the forwards, Farnham conceded a penalty in front of the posts. Despite the wind Hare claimed the three points for an 11 – 7 advantage as the clock counted down. Victory was assured for the team with the meanest defence in the league.

Gaz Martin said: “So much credit must go to our front nine. Our defence was absolutely massive today, in the face of some astonishing decisions. In these conditions and with whatever decisions are made, these players rush to support each other; there are some great leaders in this squad. Whilst we were not able to penetrate as much as we normally do our and our kicking in the second half went a little awry, we still came away with the win.” 

The last game before the Christmas break is away to Chichester.