Farnham will not finish this season on the high note they had hoped for – a cup final victory to complete the double.

And they have their closest league rivals to thank for that.

Sunday's Surrey Shield clash was a closely fought contest, but there was always the feeling that Kingston wanted the win more.

The weather was blustery, but the pitch was solid underfoot – something that Farnham have seldom experienced this year.

From the kick-off, Farnham drove Kingston back to their own 22, but the ball found its way to the home stand-off, who, with a 30-knot wind behind him, decided to run it. Eighty yards later, Kingston were leading 5-0 after barely a minute. The conversion was added, and Farnham were in for a hard afternoon.

The visitors had points on the board within 10 minutes, Nigel Rooney kicking a penalty into the wind, and Kingston answered with a drop goal to leave the score at 10-3.

Farnham's pack showed little of the passion and hard running that had sustained their league championship campaign. When they did start to pound the Kingston forwards, the champions looked the stronger team.

An uncontested line-out was won by Max Falkiner and Farnham rolled a maul 10 metres before Sid Cranstone touched down to score. The conversion attempt, again into the wind, from the right-hand corner, hit the post.

Farnham, 10-8 down at the break, opened the second half strongly and soon took the lead with a second forwards' try from a stolen line-out. This time it was Simon France who touched the ball down. Rooney converted, only for Kingston to respond with a penalty: 15-13 to Farnham.

A try and a penalty put Kingston back in front at 21-15. Then Farnham made a rare break through the backs to gain good ground before the forwards took over and made the charge to within five metres.

The ball was spun wide to Richard Doran through the hands of Rooney and Matt Payne, and Doran finished almost under the posts. Rooney converted and Farnham were leading 22-21 with only minutes to play.

Kingston won a scrum shortly after the re-start, deep in their own half, and ran beautifully through Farnham's temporary back line, populated by some nameless forwards, making 70 metres before being brought down by the cover defence.

Several collapsed, stolen and wheeled scrums followed, and eventually Kingston got the ball to their stand-off, the outstanding player on the day, who coolly dropped a goal from 25 metres to take Kingston into the final.

Farnham: Adams, Christie, Mortimore, France, Cranstone, Falkiner, Ogram, Holwill, Rooney, Payne, Jarrett, Doran, Mitchell, Parker, Heath. Subs: Thompson, Van Dongen, Lighting.

l Farnham look forward to their Sevens Tournament on Saturday, April 28 (details from Karl Brown on 01252 795340) and President's Day on May 5.