Farnham won 29-22 at home to CS Stags 1863 in Regional One South Central on Saturday.

Despite the awful weather over the past week, the pitch had held up nicely and conditions were mild at Monkton Lane.

Farnham handed a debut to Ieuan Finey-Jones at scrum half and welcomed back centurion Ben Jones at fly half, with Ben Stevens and Joe Wigmore returning to the back three.

The hosts kicked off into the breeze and looked to start the game well.

The first ten minutes were fairly even with both teams looking good on the ball. It was Farnham who struck first when a penalty allowed them to kick to the corner. The ever-threatening driving maul was well executed and top try scorer Jonny Vincent dotted down for the first try of the game.

The Stags came back strongly and were fairly expansive in their attack. A long pass found their right winger in space who finished off well in the corner to make it 5-5.

An overthrown lineout by the Stags was picked up by Vincent, who powered his way through several tackles before eventually being stopped short of the 22. The ball was quickly recycled with Toby Salmon breaking through tackles and offloading to Jones, who dived in for a try on his return.

Farnham had an excellent chance to extend their league when a well-executed backs move saw Wigmore break through, but the covering defence just stopped him short.

The hosts were putting together some good phases and Finey-Jones dummied the defence and broke free before diving over for a classic try on his debut. The successful conversion put Farnham 17-5 up.

A penalty from the restart gave the visitors an easy chance to reduce the lead, which they took.

Farnham came back with a stunning score. The ball was moved well and Salmon chipped over the defence and regathered. He offloaded to Max Williams, who fed Toby Simmons, and the winger showed his pace and finished off well in the corner for the bonus point try.

The Stags finished the half well with their flanker showing good hands to get through the Farnham defence and score under the posts to make it 22-15 at half-time.

Farnham had the conditions on their side in the second half, and Greg Franzel came on to bolster the pack alongside Chris Te-Mete.

Both defences were more solid in the second half, although the penalty count was rising.

Farnham used their maul to good effect and it brought them close to the visitors’ line. The hosts were patient and Oscar Henderson powered over to increase Farnham’s lead.

The hosts then had to endure several defence sets but stayed strong to keep the Stags out.

Ollie Brown came on at scrum half to see the game out for Farnham. The hosts thought they had broken through to score again, but a forward pass brought them back.

The visitors kept fighting hard and their tight-head prop powered over for a try to make it 29-22.

The hosts had five minutes left to see out. The remaining minutes were spent in the visitors’ 22 and although Farnham were held up over the line, the full-time whistle followed shortly afterwards.

Farnham will travel to Bracknell on Saturday, December 13.

By Toby Salmon