05/03/12…Chinnor RFC maintains its unbroken winning run

CHINNOR RFC, never firing on all cylinders, managed to run in eight tries in a 60-15 victory over local side Amersham and Chiltern on Saturday, to maintain their 100% playing record this season.

MATCH REPORT (Contributed by Bill O’Donnell)

WITH Mark Chase unavailable and Harry Jackman injured, Nick Harrison came into the back row and Tom Gray took the left wing position. The first score of the match was in the 4th minute when James Cathcart converted a penalty goal attempt for a 3-0 lead to Chinnor. On the 7th minute, Gray made a dart down the left side of the pitch and was held up but rapid passing of the ball across the pitch saw Gilbert canter in for Chinnor’s first try of the afternoon. Nine minutes later, a line out after a penalty for Chinnor saw Matthew Goode increase Chinnor’s lead to 13-0, dancing a clean line from the 22 to the posts. Cathcart’s conversion further increased the lead to 15-0.

After this initial bout of scoring, the game settled down with the energetic home side committed to a high paced game and putting Chinnor under some pressure, forcing mistakes and turnover ball. This pressure eventually led to Chiltern?s first score of the day, a try in the 37th minute from fly half Tom Smalley, which he also converted, to reduce the deficit to 15-7. The last play of the half saw Goode again take a clean line through the home defence to dot down under the posts, and with Cathcart’s conversion, give Chinnor a half-time lead of 22-7.

Chiltern started the second half brightly and after a series of rucks in the 22, got the ball back to fly half Tom Smalley to drop a goal and reduce the deficit to 22-10 on the 43rd minute. Three minutes later, Chinnor scored their bonus point try after a break from scrum-half Jones. Harrison took the ball to the try line and deftly offloaded to the supporting Pickett to score in the corner. Cathcart did well to convert the try from the touchline in high winds to increase Chinnor’s lead to 29-10. Chiltern were not to be outdone however and came back strongly. They camped out 10m from the Chinnor try line for a period of time ending with a yellow card for Chinnor’s Stoop for offside and a try in the corner for Hogan to make the match score 29-15 to the visitors from Thame.

Chinnor then mounted a series of attacks and thought they had scored but for the referee to award a 5m scrum instead. The Chinnor pack managed to drive back their opponents to make the try for Gilbert, at the back of the scrum, a formality. Cathcart’s conversion increased Chinnor’s lead to 36-15. Another penalty goal from Cathcart further increased the lead to 39-15. On the 66th minute, a quick tap penalty from Jones and quick passing saw the ball in the hands of winger Corpe who scored wide out. Cathcart again did well to convert and increase the Chinnor lead to 46-15. Direct from the restart, Harrison caught the ball and set off on a 60m burst up the field. A long pass from the resultant ruck saw Corpe canter in for Chinnor’s seventh try, again well converted by Cathcart, for a 53-15 lead to Chinnor on the 70th minute. Chinnor’s last action of the match was the hat-trick try from Corpe. From a scrum on Chiltern’s 22, a blindside half break from Jones fed Waddingham who carried well to feed Colver who then put Corpe in clear space for a diagonal run to the posts. Cathcart’s conversion made the final score 60-15 to Chinnor.

Amersham and Chiltern play in a style and in a manner that belies their lowly league position. They play fast attacking rugby and put Chinnor under periods of considerable pressure. They look to be too good a side to be flirting with relegation.

Chinnor only hit top gear in the last 15 minutes of this match. For most of the match their normal accuracy in passing, carrying and tackling was adversely affected. About five tries were left unscored because of fumbles, inaccurate passes and knock ons. Some credit must be given to Chiltern for their energetic contesting in all phases of play and the playing conditions of rain and gusting wind did not help. However scoring eight tries is no mean feat and maintains this season’s impressive playing record. Goode scored two clever tries and Harrison caught the eye for his defensive work allied to good and non-stop linking play with the backs.

With Redingensians? defeat of Bournemouth, Chinnor are now just one point behind the leaders with a game in hand and 100% playing record. It suggests that the match at Bournemouth on March 24, will be decisive in determining this year’s championship although Redingensians would clearly still like to have some say in the outcome.

Scorers:
Amersham and Chiltern: Smalley T, C, DG; Hogan T
Chinnor: Gilbert 2T; Goode 2T; Pickett T; Corpe 3T; Cathcart 7C, 2PG

Chinnor team:
Colver, Gray, Goode, Stoop (Hopwood 62), Corpe, Cathcart, Jones, Winpenny , Tattersall, Pickett (Whelan 65), Mowbray, Smith, Harrison, Waddingham, Gilbert (Hastings 62)
Replacements: Whelan, Hastings, Hopwood