Chinnor edge out League newcomers Tonbridge Juddians

AFTER the euphoria of last week’s win over Cinderford, Chinnor were brought down to earth by a sprightly Tonbridge Juddians side who took the game to their hosts for the whole 80 minutes.

The game started pretty evenly and when Tonbridge appeared to be having the better of possession Ben Manning wrestled his way over the line for the first try of the game converted by Jonny Bentley to give Chinnor a fairly fortuitous lead. Tonbridge then had the majority of possession but Chinnor’s solid defence kept them out. It was no surprise when Tonbridge, in the ascendency, scored an unconverted try by O’Sullivan shorty before the break to reduce Chinnor’s lead to 7-5.

In the second half Tonbridge maintained their kicking game, particularly from the boot of their No 9, and put in repeated pick and drives to expose Chinnor’s defence around the fringes. This led to their second try when Bent dotted down following a rolling maul and some slick handling. The conversion was missed which proved to be the Achilles heel in the Tonbridge performance. Chinnor replied almost immediately with Ben Manning diving under the posts for his second try converted by Bentley to restore Chinnor’s lead to 14 – 10.

Then followed a period of tit for tat attacks and although Chinnor defended stoutly Galbrith-Lowe broke through for a third try for Tonbridge edging them ahead 14-15. Bentley maintained his 100% record with the boot for Chinnor by slotting a penalty. This was soon followed by another Chinnor try by debutant Tom Ranaboldo which gave Chinnor a 9 point lead with 10 minutes remaining. Tonbridge then put a cross field kick into the corner where Watson collected and dived over for a 4th try and a much deserved bonus point. The try was once again unconverted.

Chinnor responded well but with only 4 minutes remaining they were unable to score a 4th try for a bonus point.
It was a flat and error strewn performance by Chinnor but full marks to Juddians for making the game so close. When all is said and done Chinnor maintained their unbeaten home record and the Kingsey Road fortress remains intact.

SOURCE: Contributed