21/03/11….Chinnor RFC ‘do just enough’ to beat Oxford ‘quins

NATIONAL 3 SW – Saturday 19th March 2011 – SCORE: Chinnor 30 Vs Oxford Harlequins 22; MATCH REPORT (Contributed by Bill O’Donnell.

IN a harum-scarum type of match with the lead changing hands 5 times, Chinnor did just enough to beat local rivals Oxford Harlequins 30-22.

Ricky Hopwood was moved to full back and Toby Prescott came in at scrum half. With Baz Corpe down under, Jack Green took the 14 shirt and James Serrano came in at inside centre. Ed Rixon retained the number 8 position..

The first score came in the sixth minute when James Cathcart, for the home side, converted a penalty goal attempt for a 3-0 lead. From a Harlequins kick to touch, Chinnor?s quick throw in went badly wrong when a pass went to no-man?s land. Quins responded quicker to the loose ball and winger Harry Burns touched down for Harlequins first try to make the score 3-5.

When pressing around the Quins 22 metre mark, Chinnor threw a speculative pass which was seized by the visitors. The ball was worked to Quins outside centre, Xavier Andre, who powerfully weaved through the Chinnor defence to score under the posts in the 22nd minute. Jeff Stewart?s conversion put the visitors 3-12 ahead.

Chinnor hit back almost immediately when Prescott, playing a one-two run around, burst through midfield. Although the initial attack was momentarily halted, Matt Goode picked up the ruck ball to blast over in the corner to make the match score 8-12.

Some two minutes later, Prescott repeated the trick to bring Richie Williams in from the wing. Two sharp passes found James Serrano who bashed over for a try, converted by Cathcart, to put Chinnor back in the lead at half time by 15-12.

Cathcart increased Chinnor?s lead to 18-12 with a well struck penalty goal. Harlequins came back immediately when another wayward Chinnor pass found the visitor?s fly half, Jeff Stewart, who scorched over for Quins third try to pull the score back to 18-17 in favour of the home side. However, Quins went back into the lead just two minutes later when, on the 46th minute, Quins took a quick tap penalty and Andre again ripped through the home defence to touch down for Harlequins to lead 18-22 and gain a bonus point.

For the next 23 minutes, both sides battled for the match and did well to keep their opponents from scoring. However, after sustained pressure in the Quins corner, Chinnor switched the ball along the line for Williams to squeeze in at the corner for an unconverted try. The match score was now 23-22 to Chinnor with 10 minutes to play. Chinnor kept the pressure on and it finally paid off in the final minute when Vickers burst through a gap in the centre of the pitch to eventually feed Prescott whose 30 metre sprint to the posts led to Chinnor?s bonus point try. With the formality of the conversion achieved by Cathcart, the referee blew for no side and a 30-22 victory for Chinnor.

This was a match of attack and counter attack ? Chinnor attacked and Quins counter attacked. Chinnor will rue the three tries that came directly from gifted ball to the opposition. Quins take great credit for their speedy counter attack style which requires pace and precision of execution. Centre Xavier Andre showed how to run in ball from distance. Chinnor struggled to impose structure on the game until the last quarter whilst Quins were happy with a speedy wide attack of a disorganised defence. Hastings and Smith had strong games for Chinnor but the difference between the sides was Chinnor?s Toby Prescott. His penetration of Quins back line defence led directly to two tries and his own alertness and speed led to the bonus point Chinnor try in the last minute which put the game beyond Quins reach.

Scorers:
Chinnor: Goode T; Serrano T; Williams T; Prescott T; Cathcart 2C, 2PG

Oxford Harlequins: Burns T; Andre 2T; Stewart T,C

Chinnor team: Hopwood, Green, Goode, Serrano (Chase 48), Williams, Cathcart, Prescott, Stock (Pickett 57), Cawston, Winpenny, Jackman, Smith, Vickers, Hastings, Rixon (Mowbray 57)

Replacements: Pickett, Mowbray, Chase