After an agonising loss against Andover this week, Petersfield will be seeking retribution when they face Farnham at Penns Place this weekend. Farnham currently sit in second place in Regional 2 South Central, with 4 wins coming against Guildford, Newbury Blues, Bournemouth, and North Dorset, with a home draw against Winchester leaving them on 21 points and more importantly – undefeated. The opposition have managed a bonus point in four of their games thus far, making them no stranger to the white line, so Petersfield will have to be more than careful against their deadly backline, who have racked up points through veteran and club captain Toby Salmon, who has lined up at fly-half and outside centre this season.

Farnham are well known for their large youth and minis section with an abundance of their starting XV this year having come through it themselves, so much like Petersfield, it will be a home-grown battle on Saturday. With some offseason recruiting from local rival Camberley, the Farnham team have seen their budding young players and experienced squad produce a strong unit this season, which Petersfield will be hoping to disrupt and bring an upset to the Surrey side’s unbeaten campaign beginning.

The squad offers a fair few differences from the last fixture, as the dominant Janaway brothers, Jack and Sam, return to the loosehead and blindside flanker respectively. Ryan Morse solidifies his position in the second-row tandem with Franko Tomic making up the other half. Joining the elder Janaway brother in the back row is Karter Whittock and player-coach Liam Perkins, and the trio will no doubt be leading by performance on the pitch. The backline features the usual puppet masters Alex Duffus and Nick Blumlein, who will be pulling the strings for the entire 80 minutes, accompanied by key figure Will Mathews and the returning Greg Jansen to the starting XV. A strong back three consists of Charlie Muir, Miles Sampson, and Tom Land, who returns to his natural position of fullback for the fixture. Muir and Sampson will both be seeking to increase their already impressive try count and stretch their legs on what is hopefully a dry day!

The bench features three Petersfield academy graduates, with the mobile front row cover being provided by Sam Brown. Noticeably, we see the return of club captain Matt Momber, who makes his first squad of the season and will no doubt be itching to get back on the field and bring home a win to the Petersfield faithful! Joe Knowles is the final name on the sheet, after a colossal performance last weekend for the 2nd XV, which saw their first win of the season against Chichester, and has rightfully earned his spot in a competitive team. Sam Bloomer also joins as a travelling reserve, who would be making their debut for the club if selected on the day.

“After last weekend, where we didn’t get the result we wanted, the boys have really bounced back this week with great intensity at training. We are looking to carry forward that energy to go into what we know will be a tough game and hopefully come away with 5 points against a strong team who have started their campaign well.”
– Jack Janaway, 1st XV Flanker

“Personally it’s been a frustrating start to the season with injury, but I’m buzzing to be fit again and help contribute to the team! Every game is tough in this league, Farnham are no exception and we’ll have to be on our game to beat them. Numbers have been outstanding at training and we’ve prepared well. The group’s really come together this week to iron out some little details that we haven’t quite got nailed down. If we can implement what we’ve been working on, to the level we know we can, we’ll be in a really good place to build on the foundations we’ve already laid.”
– Matt Momber, 1st XV Captain

Make sure to leave space in the diary for 15:00 on Saturday, this will not be a game to miss! We advise getting there before kick-off to get some drinks in and a position on the terrace—this will get busy!

1st XV to face Farnham RFC:

Sam Janaway
Nic Wilde
Dan Sargent
Ryan Morse
Franko Tomic
Jack Janaway
Karter Whittock
Liam Perkins
Alex Duffus
Nick Blumlein
Charlie Muir
Will Mathews
Greg Jansen
Miles Sampson
Tom Land
Sam Brown
Matt Momber
Joe Knowles
TR. Sam Bloomer
2nd XV News

It may have taken a handful of games, but the 2nd XV got their season up and running last weekend with a storming win against Chichester, finishing 34-47 to the visiting Red and Green team. Hopefully, this momentum will be carried over and the squad will produce another win for the home crowd on Saturday, against the Fareham Heathens.

“Off the back of a great hard-fought win last week, the boys have put their best foot forward in training. Working hard on the little details to push forward their game even further this week. They have grown as a squad, and as a unit, working hard for each other. And we look forward to the challenge of Fareham this Saturday.”
– Cam Thomas, Seniors Coach

The squad has been a real combination of youth and veteran experience, making for a challenging blend of styles. Despite this, the 2s have never given up this year and that will certainly not be the case this weekend either. Heathens currently sit one place above the 2s, having picked up 2 out of 3 wins on their campaign so far, with only one bonus point achieved from the games.

The 2nd XV squad is once again a reflection of the great academy work at Petersfield, with 12 out of the starting 15 being academy graduates who learnt their rugby from the club for years. Albeit some of them a long time ago! A few changes from the last time out see a strong front row blend of Johno Pemberton, Harley Orr, and Will Cross, backed up by youth player Fraser Combe and the towering John Hamblin. Lewis McGarr continues his bill of good health and big hits, as Oli Bott shows his versatility to join the back row, with veteran Carl Sharrock taking the reins from number 8.

The Horsfall twins will be seeking to cause some damage this week, aiming to get their legs free to show some of the elusive work that we’ve grown accustomed to over the years of youth rugby. They line up at 9 and 15, respectively. Archie Whitear returns to the fly-half position for a successive week, where he has two ball players at his disposal as Cameron Duffus and Toby Colwood are lined up in the centres. Adam Dawes and Jasper Campbell take to the wings as they complete a strong 2nd team outfit.

“I’m just coming back from another ankle injury and can’t wait to put the jersey back on for this young and exciting team! UTR!!!”
– Chad White, 2nd XV Hooker

The bench sees the return of the dominant Chad White, alongside Josh Stephens and a fellow academy graduate in Eddie Matthews.

This match will also commence at 15:00, on pitch 2 at Penns Place. Two games of rugby for the price of one!

2nd XV to face Fareham Heathens:

Johno Pemberton
Chad White
Will Cross
Fraser Combe
John Hamblin
Lewis McGarr
Carl Sharrock
Harley Orr
Oscar Horsfall
Archie Whitear
Adam Dawes
Toby Colwood
Oli Bott
Jasper Campbell
Ethan Horsfall
Mark Butcher
Josh Stephens
Eddie Matthews
3rd XV News

Saving the best to last, we are graced with the return of the 3rd XV this weekend! This has been a major goal of the club recently, and something that we are hoping to see more of this season. They play Havant 4s at 14:30 at home!

“Extremely proud to have 3 home games this weekend, it shows the effort each and every player is putting in to make selections a headache for the coaching team. There are players here that should be playing every week and hopefully will shine to give us even more of a headache next week! Very proud to be part of this club right now and I know these men will enjoy taking the field for the mighty rams!”
– Seniors Coach

Being able to field a full XV alongside a 4-deep bench is a true achievement to what the coaches and players alike have been growing at Petersfield in the last few years. There are too many club veterans to even break down in this team but we will offer some honourable mentions:

Mark Butcher remains a constant cog in the Petersfield wheel and will be lining up in the 2nd row this weekend. Mr Social Media himself, James Barden, will be rocking the openside flanker shirt and hoping to make the full 80 minutes! Jon Horsfall, father of Oscar and Ethan in the 2s, takes the number 8 shirt and extends his impressive career.

“This weekend we’ve got three teams lacing up at home which is exciting. It’ll be the first time the 3rd XV play this season and there’s a lot of players back from injuries and retirement. Should be a good game, numbers have been decent at training. Hopefully that gets put into practice on Saturday and we produce 3 big wins for Petersfield!”
– Jorge Villalon, 3rd XV Second Row

Would it really be a complete team without Gerry Devlin and Alex Groves? The duo return for another season in the backline together. Many of the current squad will have been coached by Gerry over the years, so an opportunity to play with the man is always a privilege.

The 3rd XV kicks off at 14:30, and it would be great to see everyone there before the kick-off at the other matches! Get over to pitch 4 to give our neighbours from over the hill some noise!

3rd XV to face Havant IV:

Nathan B-S
Andy Garland
Kyle Babbage
James Barden
Jorge Villalon
Jim Oldham
Chris Brooker
Jon Horsfall
Alistair Sheldon
Jon Holroyd
Gerry Devlin
Joel Babbage
Orion O’Connor
Alex Evans
Alex Groves
Tim Jones
Jim Oldham
Evan Smith
David Lewis