Chinnor 1st XV 11 vs. Bridgewater 1st XV 43
Saturday 11th September
South West Division One

Chinnor 11 (Tries: Hewitt. Pens: Cathcart 2.)
Bridgwater 43 (Tries: Hancock 2, Hambleton, Satala, Salmon, M Ranson, Hastie. Cons: George 4.)

Chinnor were out thought and out manoeuvred by a well drilled and committed Bridgewater side. The gusty wind was a factor in the result with Bridgewater illustrating how utilise the conditions when playing with the breeze in the first half and into it in the second session. Chinnor won the toss and elected to play into the wind. They started well and indeed took the game to Bridgewater in the opening salvo's. Bridgwater scored in the 10th minute when weak tackling around the fringes allowed scrumhalf Owen Salmon in for an easy try, Andrew George adding the conversion. This was against the run of play as this was Bridgewater's first foray into Chinnor territory. They went over for their second try when winger Andrew Hamilton rounded off a pacey three-quarter move to score under the posts, George again adding the conversion. With just 14pts on the board and half time rapidly approaching, Chinnor No.7 Rory Thompson was sin binned.

This was to prove a double blow for the home side as minutes later Matthew Hastie the Bridgewater hooker was awarded a try wide out following a maul near the Chinnor line. With the referee deciding there were 9 minutes of injury time to be played Bridgewater took full advantage of both the extra time and the extra man with winger Gavin Hancock going over in the 48th.minute. So what was seemingly a good performance in turning around just 14 points in arrears on the stroke of half time turned into a not so satisfactory 26pts deficit some 9 minutes later.

With two James Cathcart penalties reducing the deficit early in the second half. a Chinnor revival looked a possibility. However Bridgewater upped the anti, gaining quality possession which their forwards used to maximum effect. Another try by Gavin Hancock who capitalised on a Chinnor error in the middle of the park killed all hopes. Chinnor then had their best spell with Cameron Shaw to the fore. A try by James Hewitt
following a Shaw break showed the home side had some fight left in them, but a slice of over ambition and naivety gifted Bridgewater their final score when fullback Manoa Satala ran the length of the field to score under the posts.

This was a below par Chinnor effort. On occasions they showed they have ability and no little skill, however they must adapt to grafting with more purpose and learn to take sensible options and play the percentage game more often.