‘Spirited’ fight leaves Chinnor still unbeaten

CHINNOR RFC kept up their unbeaten start to the season with a six-try victory over Bury St Edmunds on Saturday (22/10), though it was not all one way as a spirited Bury side put Chinnor under some pressure in the second half and scored two good tries as a result.

Chinnor boss, Matt Williams, gave credit to the losers: “That was perhaps the toughest match up-front we have had this season. Bury played with a lot of endeavour and gave us a tough time.”

A badly palmed lineout ball by Bury saw Ross Parkins reach the ball quickest for Chinnor’s first try early on. Bury staunched wave after wave of Chinnor attack until CJ Osazuwa pounced on a loose ruck ball and pirouetted over for the score. Conversions and a penalty goal from Sam Angell saw Chinnor go in 17-0 at the interval. Chinnor looked to have the match well controlled despite Bury’s persistence.

Chinnor came out smartly in the second half with Hannay and then Burns crossing the whitewash in the first few minutes of play. Bury then made a contest of it for the next 10 minutes, camping out in the Chinnor 22 without reward until a midfield break saw Frost put Shaq Meyers away for Bury’s first score. Chinnor’s Goss then danced through three defenders for Chinnor’s fifth. Bury came back with another siege of the Chinnor line with Ben Enoka eventually going over.

In the dying minutes, the long legged Hannay ate up half the pitch before offloading to the electric Lamont who put skipper Armitage in for Chinnor’s sixth try of the day. Angell completed a faultless kicking performance for a 45-14 victory to the Thame boys.

Bury coach Gavin Hogg was sanguine about his team’s performance: “We met a side who took their chances clinically. Chinnor managed possession better and we were guilty of losing the ball too often and they always punish any mistake severely. We take heart from a good period in the second half where we scored twice and put Chinnor under prolonged pressure.”

Chinnor’s Matt Williams was pleased with his team’s defence: “We did well not to concede a score in the first 25 minutes and, once the bonus point try was scored, we became a little loose but, all in all, an efficient workmanlike performance.”

TEAMS

Chinnor – Steve Castle, Kieran Goss, Danny Barnes (Hopkin 65), Bevon Armitage ©, Henry Lamont, Sam Angell, Greg Goodfellow, Ricky Cano (Darlington 63), Jamie Townsend, Jay Tyack (Price 52), Nathan Hannay, CJ Osazuwa (Thorpe 63), Ross Parkins, Gus Jones (Manning 55), Tom Burns (YC 33-43) (Osazuwa 79)
Interchanges: Tom Price, Andy Darlington, Ben Manning, Richard Thorpe, Bertie Hopkin

Bury St Edmunds – Chris Lord, Jacob Bodkin, Connor O’Reilly (Meyers 43), Tom Rock, Chris Snelling, Liam McBride ©, Harry Anderson-Brown, Luke Palmer (Trinder 40), Alex Rayment (Collins 26-42), Cai Griffiths (Bingham 40), Matt Edison, Ben Turner (Palmer 71), Sam Bixby (Enoka 52), Sean Stapleton, Maku Koroiyadi (Collins 50)
Interchanges: Nick Bingham, Toby Trinder, Dan Collins, Ben Enoka, Shaq Meyers

SCORERS

Chinnor – Tries (time): Jones 4, Osazuwa 21, Hannay 43, Burns 46, Goss 63, Armitage 77
Conversions (time): Angell 5, 22, 44, 47, 64, 77 Penalty Goals (time): Angell 13
Bury St Edmunds Tries (time): Meyers 59, Enoka 71
Conversions (time): McBride 59, 72 Penalty Goals (time):

Referee: Andrew MacNeaney Attendance: 346 Half time score: 17-0 Full time score: 45-14 Star man: Nathan Hannay (Chinnor)