Record crowd for historic slaying of Henley by Chinnor RFC

IN a pulsating local derby, Chinnor RFC overcame Henley Hawks for the first time ever in a league match, to record a 28-21 victory at Kingsey Road, raucously and rapturously received by the largest crowd of many years.

Photo courtesy of Dave Winpenny

The first half was a tense and well contested affair with most of the play in the middle of the pitch as both sides struggled for superiority. Chinnor struck first after a sharp rolling maul. Angell stepped in to snatch the ball from the back and was driven over for Chinnor’s first try of the day. Keohane’s extras put the home side ahead 7-0 on 7 minutes. Comben struck two penalty goals for Henley but missed two others to make the half time score 7-6 to the home side.

The second half was in sharp contrast to the first – with end to end play and as many opportunities spurned as taken. Shortly after the restart, Jack Hayes scored Chinnor’s second try under the posts after a delightful flick pass from Fatialofa. Keohane’s conversion increased the Chinnor lead to 14-6. Chinnor were beginning to show growing superiority when Long was yellow carded. This only served to spur Chinnor on as Haile burst through the middle. His pass to the surprisingly speedy prop Cambareri was transferred at pace for Manning to touch down to increase the Chinnor lead to 19-6.

Keohane further increased the Chinnor lead to 25-6 with two well struck penalty goals. Henley upped their game and bursting through tackles, scored two tries in two minutes from Murphy and Hirskji-Douglas in the 69th and 71st minutes. Comben converted one to close the score to 25-18. Henley then seemed to find extra territory and pace as they strove to close the gap still further. However, Chinnor took some of the steam out of their efforts with a penalty goal from Keohane on 75 minutes to increase the home lead to 28-18. With two minutes to play, Henley took the pragmatic decision to go for goal from a penalty on the 10 metre line for a losing bonus point. Murphy’s kick was good and reduced the gap to 28-21. Henley continued to press for the last two minutes but the Chinnor defence held firm for a notable Chinnor victory, 28-21.

The key to Chinnor’s victory was their desire to win. Their speedy and hefty tackling in the first half stopped Henley gaining the fluency for which they are renowned. As a result, much of the first half was stalemate as Henley attempted to get their game going as much as Chinnor were determined to stop them. For this, Chinnor were fortunate to have a back row of high energy and impact. The trio of Tibbatts, Long and To’oala were highly destructive and every Henley player must have woken up with bruises on Sunday – particularly those who had not benefitted from meeting Alfie first time round at Dry Leas, due to his early departure from that match. The back row were augmented by a second row that played in the loose like a second back row – Ben Manning always seeming to be in the right place at the right time to tackle or carry the ball. The front row were solid at scrum time with Cano prominent. His colleagues, Williams and Camareri were very mobile and Camareri, popping up in the 13 channel showed the speed and skill necessary of that position to put Manning in for the third try.

Henley could not find a way through and the normally reliable Comben was off target for several penalty goal attempts. Things changed in the last quarter for Henley with the introduction of replacements Hirskij-Douglas (a former Chinnor player) and Connor Murphy. Murphy was the difference between the sides first time round at Henley. He made an immediate difference to the pace and direction of the Henley attack and was instrumental in both of their tries. He even took the long range (and most pragmatic) successful penalty kick at the end of the match to gain a losing bonus point. His continuing availability (dually registered with London Irish) may be most significant in Henley’s promotion run-in.

Chinnor’s backs deserve plaudits for their aggressive defence with the crowd mistaking Fatialofa for an Exocet missile at times. They also showed great invention. Hayes’ try came from a delightful feint and flick pass from Fatialofa that bewildered the opposition. Keohane, strangely selected at wing, was most reliable from the tee and did much good work from an unusual area of the park.

In this famous victory, every player had claims as star player but perhaps Ben Manning’s omnipresence gives him the laurels marginally ahead of Ryan Long and Junior Fatialofa.

And a word for the huge crowd whose enthusiastic support did much to make the occasion even better. And, in case you missed the match score: Chinnor 28 Henley 21.

Heady days.

Teams:
Chinnor: Jake Olley, George Blewitt, Jack Hayes, Junior Fatialofa, Ed Keohane, Sam Angell, Frank Jones, Ricardo Cano, Locryn Williams, Guido Cambareri, Ben Manning, Toby Salmon, Andy Tibbatts, Ryan Long. Alfie To’oala

Interchanges: David Coutts, Dave McKee, Loti Molitika, Reece Boughton, Reuben Haile

Henley: Tom Allen, Xavier Andre, George Eastwell, Fred Pierrepoint, Jake Randall, James Comben, Tom Parker, Tom West, Stuart Philpott, Jimmy Litchfield, Dave Clements (c), Will Woodward, Matt Payne, Tom Hall, Robbie Stapley

Interchanges: Hugo Milford-Scott, Dave Manning, Oskar Hirskyj-Douglas, Ryan Newman, Dan Barnes

Scorers:
Chinnor
Tries (time): Angell (6), Hayes (42), Manning (54)
Conversions (time): Keohane (7, 43)
Penalty Goals (time): Keohane (59, 65, 75)

Henley
Tries: (time) Parker (69), Hirskj-Douglas (71)
Conversions: (time): Comben (72)
Penalty Goals (time): Comben (12, 38, 79)

SOURCE: Contributed by Bill O’Donnell