Truly historic win for Chinnor

DIRECTOR of Rugby at Chinnor RFC, MATT Williams, couldn’t hide his delight after Chinnor claimed victory at Bishop’s Stortford for the first time in their history on Saturday (January 18, 2020).

A hat-trick of tries from Nick Selway and a Jason Worrall helped the Thame-based side to an impressive 30-17 triumph at Silver Leys. It was a bonus-point victory built around a dominant forward pack, which proved formidable at set-piece. The result lifted Chinnor back up to fourth in National League 1 and director Matt Williams was thrilled to finally defeat Stortford at the sixth time of asking.

“It was the perfect tonic to last week’s disappointment (the defeat to Rams),” he said. “The boys responded in style. We were brutal at set-piece, when we went to the corner we scored and I thought, knowing what Bishop’s Stortford were going to bring with their attacking flair, defensively we marshalled them well and the boys deserved their five points.

“It was a very proud moment for me. It felt like the performance we have been waiting for this season and we were in control from start to finish. We’ve now got to push on again, but to win at Bishop’s Stortford means a lot to the club and I think the travelling supporters will have very much enjoyed that victory.”

James Tyas was a part of the superb forward pack, with Chinnor dominant at scrum time and scoring three of their four tries from driving lineouts. “It was an awesome week with two training sessions in torrential rain,” remarked Matt, “and then to come to Bishop’s Stortford and put in a performance is really pleasing.
“The pack were brilliant and it just showed the forward dominance that we wanted. We know that our scrum is one of the best in the league and we put a lot of work into it. We want to continue to build on it and have that reputation for being one of the feared packs.”

Caolan Ryan made his first start at fly-half this season, having spent most of the campaign playing at full-back. As well as kicking ten points, he caused Stortford problems all afternoon and Williams was impressed. He said: “Caolan was class. He got our attacking brand of rugby working really well. To be in a position where we have two outstanding tens in Laurence May and Caolan is a luxury and Caolan really took his chance.

“But it was a team performance. Our defence, on occasions, has let us down, but the boys really brought it and we took complete control up front.”

Chinnor are next in action this Saturday, welcoming Cinderford to Thame for a 3pm kick-off.