Travelling to the third placed side on the last day of the season was always going to be difficult for the Stags, but they went into the game confident of gaining a result. Unfortunately the home side upped their game and Chesham found it hard to string any possession together.

The Stags were optimistic of performing well after a strong showing at the Gent Easter tournament in Belgium the weekend before. Chesham’s optimism seemed to be well-placed as they soon began to dominate the rucks, enabling their dangerous backline to make ground and put them on the front foot. With the home side back-peddling, they gave away a penalty which Ross Leek put between the posts to give the visitors the lead. Chesham’s dominance was short lived as Farnham began to warm to the game.

The Stags started to miss tackles which allowed the hosts impressive backline to make ground and put Chesham on the back foot. Farnham soon took advantage of Chesham going off the boil and scored a well-worked try, which was converted to take the lead. However, the visitors were not to be cowed as they pushed deep into Farnham territory. A kick ahead was dotted down by Farnham, and they were rewarded with a 22 drop-out. Matt Reynolds did well to take the cross-field kick and he broke up field, by-passing a number of would be tacklers on the way. As he was eventually hauled down Farnham gave away another penalty; Leek took advantage to bring Chesham back to within a point.

Despite chasing the game, the Stags did not seem able to impose themselves at the breakdown, despite an energetic performance from the pack. Farnham were able to make good use of any dog-legs and missed tackles in Chesham’s defensive line and scored two tries to put them 17-6 up at half time. Captain Gareth Wehrle urged his side to play their own game and to work their way back into the game during the second half. He was rewarded soon after as good defensive pressure saw Alex Hanney read a pass to interception and race down the field and score a try, converted by Leek.

This score seemed to give Farnham the inspiration they needed to close the game out and they proved their class as began to run in the tries. The home side scored four times in the second half to record an impressive win over Chesham. The result sees Chesham Rugby Club end the season in sixth position of the Berks, Bucks, and Oxon Championship. “It wasn’t a very good performance and for some reason we just didn’t play our usual game” said captain Gareth Wehrle. “It was like we were on a different planet at times, and the result does not reflect our season. We’ve played well for the majority of the year and it’s a real shame that we didn’t get to finish the season on our terms.”