15/04/13…..Relief as Chinnor RFC bouces back

NATIONAL 2 South – Saturday, April 13, 2013 – Score: Chinnor 33 Clifton 12. CHINNOR was glad to get back to its winning ways on Saturday, scoring five tries in a 33-12 victory over Bristol side, Clifton.

The game started in the best possible way for Chinnor. Right from the kick-off, Chinnor?s young fly half, Will Millett, sidestepped the Clifton defence and took the ball a full 75 metres before delicately chipping for touch. Chinnor stole the resulting five metre lineout ball and a few passes later, Stoop crashed over for a try in the first minute. Millett?s conversion put the home side 7-0 up with just two minutes on the clock.

Clifton came back from this early upset well and kept Chinnor pinned in their own 22 for the next 15 minutes. This Clifton pressure eventually led to their opening score when Barnes glided over for a try which he duly converted to square the match at 7-7 with 19 minutes played.

Four minutes later, some smart and rapid handling saw Harrison slip the ball to Gray who sped over for Chinnor?s second try. The 29th minute saw the highlight of the match. From a solid scrum on their own 10m line, Chinnor attacked the narrow blindside at pace using dummy and miss passes to set Gray thundering down the tramlines. A neat inside pass allowed the supporting No 8, Gilbert, an easy canter to the line. Millett?s conversion put the home side 19-7 ahead, a score they defended until half time.

Chinnor?s bonus point try was scored just five minutes into the second half in unusual circumstances. Awarded a penalty a metre or so inside the Clifton half and wide out to the right, Millet, for Chinnor, opted to kick for goal in wet and gusting conditions. Although accurate, the ball dropped short in front of the Clifton posts where an unfortunate defender knocked the ball on. From the resulting scrum, Chinnor piled on the power and the referee, Mr Vertigan penalised the Bristol side severely by awarding a penalty try and Millet had an easy kick for goal to increase the Chinnor lead to 26-7.

Clifton came right back and Pomphrey went over for Clifton?s second try to decrease the deficit to 26-12 in the 51st minute. They continued to test the Chinnor defence until Jones? long clearing kick finally relieved the pressure. Chinnor then set up their own series of attacks leading to Fielding going over for Chinnor?s fifth try of the day. Jones? conversion was the last scoring action of the match to record a 33-12 victory to the boys from Oxfordshire.

Clifton were a competitive outfit and never stopped trying but were ultimately undone by Chinnor?s pace and a wobbly scrum as they tired.

Chinnor showed, in patches, some of the good form that has made their entry at this level perhaps more comfortable than they expected. Gilbert’s try in the 29th minute was a thing of joy. There were notable contributions from Berry and Harrison with Stoop having a good all-round purposeful game despite couple of uncharacteristic dropped balls.

Scorers:
Chinnor: Stoop T; Gray T; Gilbert T: Penalty T; Fielding T; Millett 3C, Jones C
Clifton: Barnes T, C; Pomphrey T

Chinnor team:
Colver (Mountford 51), Fielding (Corpe 66), Goode, Stoop, Gray, Millett, Jones, Winpenny (Whelan 66), Tattersall (Holyland 66), Berry, Hughes (Vickers 26), Smith, Mowbray, Harrison, Gilbert
Replacements: Whelan, Holyland, Vickers, Corpe, Mountford

PHOTO: Man of the Match, Andy Berry
SOURCE: Contributed by Bill O’Donnell