Chinnor ‘win ugly’ at Moseley

FOLLOWING Chinnor RFC’s win at Birmingham Moseley on Saturday, December 7, Matt Williams has praised his side’s ability to win ugly, as Chinnor continued their fine run of form.

A 22-17 victory at Birmingham Moseley on Saturday saw the Thame-based side go six games unbeaten and climb to fourth in National League 1. It proved a physical battle in the West Midlands where Chinnor were forced to play out the final moments on their own try-line.

The visitors made a phenomenal start and led 17-0 after 20 minutes. Moseley slowly cut the deficit through four penalties and Morgan Dawes’ unconverted try brought the sides level after 68 minutes. But Chinnor responded brilliantly with Jason Worrall crossing for his second score of the game, before they saw out a nail-biting final few moments.

It was another tense battle and director of rugby Matt Williams was delighted to leave Billesley Common with four points. “We love giving the paying punters a game at Chinnor,” he said. “What can I say? It wasn’t pretty; it was very scrappy; there were a lot of penalties, but we were incredible for the first 18 minutes.”

“Don’t get me wrong, Moseley then woke up but it was a huge game, both teams putting in some massive hits with two big packs. Moseley had obviously come back with their strong group of forwards. I know they have been struggling and it was good to see a lot of those boys back on the pitch. But I said to the guys before the game that it wasn’t going to be the Moseley we had done our analysis on, and that it was going to be a real battle – that’s exactly what it was.

“If you’re going to turn a corner, if you’re going to go on a roll, you have to be able to win ugly and we really won ugly.”

Chinnor finish 2019 with back-to-back home games. They welcome Darlington Mowden Park to Kingsey Road this Saturday, before hosting Richmond on December 21.