Triumphant start to the year for Chinnor RFC

CHINNOR RFC started the second half of the season in style on Saturday, January 4 2020, when they faced Hull Ionians away from home.

The Thame-based team produced a superb second half performance to beat Hull Ionians 54-7 in their first game of 2020, running in eight tries in Yorkshire to move up to fourth in National League One. This still leaves them nine points behind leaders, Rosslyn Park, heading into next Friday’s mouth-watering clash at home to Rams, who are only second by virtue of defeats.

Josh Pieterse, Laurence May, Josh Hodson, Ehize Ehizode, Nick Selway, Jason Worrall and Sam Yawayawa crossed for Chinnor after the hosts had led 7-0. But the visitors, though slow out of the blocks early on, upped their game to secure their biggest win of the season.

Hull took the lead against the run of play on 25 minutes when Jack Colbourne intercepted May’s pass on half-way and raced over unopposed, Max Titchener converting, to make it 7-0.

Chinnor were undeterred and the score seemed to help them find another gear, culminating in three scores in the space of six minutes to go 21-7 in front through a penalty try, Pieterse and May, the latter converting twice. Hodson then crossed after the break for the four-try bonus point, with May adding the extras, to make it 28-7.

Chinnor’s dominance continued and scores from Selway, Ehizode, Worrall and Yawayawa, Caolan Ryan converting twice and May once, helped them to a dominant victory.

What’s next?

As Chinnor began their preparations for Rams last night (Monday), moving their training sessions a day forward to take into account this week’s fixture, Director of Rugby, Matt Williams says his Chinnor side is heading into Friday’s mouth-watering local derby with Rams (7.45pm ko) in good shape following the win over Hull. It’s the first time the club has hosted a Friday night National League game.

“We’ve got a quick turnaround this week now,” he said. “Rams pose a whole different problem because they are flying high at the moment and it is our local derby, but we achieved what we needed to at Hull and that was to score five points. It’s now about revving things up in training, ready for the huge challenge of Rams.”

The Hull fixture proved beneficial for prop Camilo Parilli-Ocampo who made his debut off the bench after recovering from a torn bicep, while Oscar Heath was handed his first appearance of the season. Josh Hodson marked his first game since November with a try, while Josh Pieterse and Laurence May opened their accounts for the club.

Williams added: “We actually started the game pretty ropey – we were trying too hard. There were a lot of opportunities out there in the first 30 minutes, but it wasn’t through a lack of endeavour just a lack of composure. They (Hull) scored an interception try against the run of play and we found ourselves seven points down after 23 minutes. But the try settled us down, allowing us to get back into structure. We then scored three good tries before half-time and I felt our second half performance was very good.

“We took our chances and I was particularly pleased with the bench. The guys who came on made a big impact and Sam Yawayawa did very well in the middle of the park; he showed some great footwork. It was good to have Josh Hodson back on the field and it was a pleasing start to the year for sure.”

Williams continued: “Apart from a couple of boys who are out injured, Chris Elder being one of them, I think the squad is in a good shape now. A lot of boys, who have been hungry for minutes for a while, got game time against Hull. The squad depth is strong when you can afford to have people like Will Harries and Carl Kirwan on the sidelines, while Ben Thomas was ill.

“Obviously it was also good to have Camilo make his debut for Chinnor and play 40 minutes.”