KCS Old Boys 43pts, Farnham 5pts

CHAMPIONS KCS overran Farnham on a damp and miserable day at Motspur Park.

The London South West 2 league has been captured this season by the Kings College Old Boys with a staggering 17 straight bonus point wins.

With two months of the season still remaining, the title fight is over.

The imperious league leaders were just too much for Farnham on a gloomy afternoon for the visiting faithful who went with high expectations of a shock win.

It was not to be and the final score of 43-5 rightly captured the level of KCS dominance.

Picking over the morsels of a defeat is never easy. The Black and Whites competed throughout but too many times the normally tight defensive lines were breached by varied and rapid thrusting and well-supported attacks from the Wimbledon boys. Pace aplenty both in the pack and in an impressive back division kept Farnham under pressure for the entire game.

Only desperate last-ditch tackling by the back three of Rich, Stennet and Jones kept the score down.

Time after time the Farnham lines were breached as KCS rampaged through forwards and backs alike. As Farnham began to drop off first up tackles the hordes poured through, so after a promising six minutes of initial probing and sparring the floodgates gave way – and they were never to be tightly closed for the rest of the match after the KCS left winger took an aggressive angled line to cut back under the posts untouched to score a converted try to put the home side 7-0 ahead.

Farnham were on the back foot and had still not managed any sustained periods with the ball. The referee, who had a fussy, inconsistent afternoon, penalised Welch for not rol?ing away and KCS launched an attacking penalty into the visitors 22. The lineout catch and drive was unstoppable and Farnham were in disarray after just 10 minutes, trailing as they did 12-0.

The front row of Azevado, Kouris and Coutts held their own up front supported by the ever-willing second row pairing of Pritchard and Simmons, but gradually the sheer work rates required to stem the tide around the fringes and in broken play began to take their toll as pressure forced Farnham into poor defensive discipline and ragged defensive errors.

A penalty to KCS and a repeat catch-and-drive try pushed the score out to 19-0. And it was a double whammy for the visitors as the aggressive Kouris was forced to depart with a head injury to be replaced by Ben Brown.

At last Farnham made headway into the home half. They were stopped illegally and Toby Salmon kicked for the corner for a lineout on five metres. But the resultant lineout shambles summed up Farnham’s mistake-ridden afternoon. The throw was too long and swooped on by the KCS back row who blitzed out of their half to launch a full length breakout full of pace and sumptuous handling. The back three, firmly under the cosh, managed to quell the attack just yards in front of the try line but from the resulting scrum the KCS scrum half squirmed over under the posts for the bonus point try and conversion for a 26-0 lead as half time approached.

For all intents and purposes the game was done and dusted.

Farnham do have character about them and the fact that they managed to restrict the champions to 17-5 in the second half does at least say a lot for their team spirit and sheer cussedness.

The final 40 minutes was fast and furious, with both sides throwing everything into the game. To their credit, KCS tried everything almost as a training run, with off loads, pace and support their classy trademark.

For 20 minutes the Farnham defence held as the back row of Adams, Comley and Welch battled manfully to thwart the charges. Michael Salmon and Corlett, in the centre, were almost entitled to overtime bonuses as they committed to tackle after tackle. But the swarm began to become unstoppable and from another five-metre scrum KCS stuck against the head to drive over under the posts. With the extras their lead ballooned to 33-0 and they were out of sight.

Another sweeping, full-length attack and KCS had stretched their lead to 38-0. This after a sustained period of pressure from Farnham in which the referee awarded five consecutive penalties to the visitors inside the home 22 and yet failed to punish any of the defenders.

But there was at last some success for the overwhelmed Black and Whites. An attack was held up on one of the rare forays into the KCS 22 but quick ball through Oli Brown gave Reece Stennet a consolation try in the corner.

Yet the spirited finish by the visitors was washed away when the referee awarded a penalty to KCS and sent Pritchard to the bin for a seemingly innocuous tackle. Rough justice indeed and a final outcome of 43-5 summed up a bad day for Farnham on an afternoon that KCS deservedly wrapped up the league title.

The Farnham boys will come back stronger from this. With the Six Nations returning this weekend, they have a couple of weeks to lick their wounds before entertaining Old Reigatian at Monkton Lane on March 2 where a good win would see them stay in contention for a promotion play-off place (kick-off 3pm).