Broken Nose For Chinnor Seconds Captain

Chinnor RFC Match, Saturday, November 25;
Chinnor 2nd – 10 Pts vs. Canterbury 2nd – 15 Pts
Away League Game – Tries: Adam Seymour, Gareth Duder.

SADLY Chinnor Seconds lost their Shield league game against Canterbury this past weekend. Once again one has to look at the grey area of uncontested scrums in this league. Chinnor suffered this last week and coincidently outclassed Canterbury up front and at some stage during the second half the request came in for the uncontested scrum with front row replacements on the bench.
This was expected to be a tough game with both teams placed about mid table in the league. Both sides had the awful disadvantage with the field being very wet and muddy and the ball slippery, so handling was a problem.
The attack and defence from both teams were top class as were the tackles.
It took until the 15TH minute before Chinnor notched up the first points with a great forward drive which sent Adam Seymour over for the first try. The first half finished with Chinnor in the lead five points to nil.
Canterbury closed the gap with a penalty after five minutes shortly followed by a try from a missed tackle. Two minutes later an interception pass put Chinnor behind bringing the score to 15 to 5 down. At this stage in Chinnor?s defence they were playing directly into a very low sun, which made the visibility very poor. Gareth Duder then closed the gap by scoring a try bringing the score to 10 – 15.

Chinnor were all over Canterbury for the rest of the game but were kept out due to the uncontested scrums and some inconsistent passing as well as some very good defence on their behalf. Chinnor crossed the goal line on three different occasions in the last five minutes and got the ball down onto the ground, only for the ref to rule that the ball was held up on each occasion.
To crown it all, the team also landed a good few injuries ie. Gareth Duder a broken thumb, Joe Iosefo ligament damage to his leg and Captain Rob Fenwick a broken nose. Not bad for a game of rugby!

Walter McGuicken
Second Team Manager