Chinnor had earned the right to contest a place in the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Premier league by winning all of their first phase matches, whilst Chippie had finished third in their group. However, in contrast to their previous fixtures, Chinnor came into this game without large proportion of their first choice fifteen. Those absences were due to illness, doctor's orders, representative games and the unfortunate unavailability of the best under 16 players, who were required to help overwhelm Bletchley 55-10.

Nevertheless, Chinnor began brightly and went ahead, when centre Ed Dickson carved through the cover to crown a neat move and touch down in the corner 5-0. Ollie Heath playing well, but out of position at fly half, found the angle and distance to the posts too demanding.

Chinnor kept their feet on the throttle and kept Chippie pinned in the last third of the pitch for the majority of the time. Having been awarded a penalty they chose to kick for the posts, but alas Ollie Heath scuffed his attempt and it remained 5-0.  They then launched a power play into the heart of the Chippie defence for second row Ben Peddie to suck in the opposition and release the backs. Jimmy Powell made some hard yards before feeding Brendan Davis, who dived in form a couple of metres to make it 10-0. The angle and distance once more confounded Ollie Heath.

Against the run of play, just on half time Chinnor were awarded a scrum five metres out from their own line. From the put in, Matt Grellier hooked the ball. Unfortunately though, the ball shot out of the back of the scrum and over the try line, where an alert Chippie player managed to dive on the ball for five points. The conversion was missed and the whistle blew with the score standing at 10-5.

Chippie consolidated during the break by freshening up their backs to take full advantage of the wind and driving rain. Also, whatever their coach said at halftime rejuvenated them. They sought out every available crumb of advantage; beginning by feeding the scrum to nullify the silky hooking skills of the fleet footed Matt Grellier thus denying him his customary volume of opposition ball. They also set about retaining more ball, which included not releasing promptly on the floor, after being tackled. Both tactics went unchecked by the referee.

To their credit, Chippie did not spurn this benefit and assumed the ascendancy. They were rewarded for their pressure with a try in the corner, which got them onto level terms at 10-10. The attempted conversion went close, but critically, did not bisect the uprights. 

Chippie sustained their forward momentum without looking particularly convincing, until they created the only other clear scoring chance during the second half. Indeed, it was the only one to fall to their backs all game, but it was also the critical score, for a critical victory. The ball was touched down under the posts and the easy conversion made the margin 10-17.

In view of the absence of the likes of Tim Hughes, Ben Hewitt and Ross Gehnich, not to mention the unavailability of the premier Under 16 players, realistically, Chinnor cannot have been too disappointed, even if the result means they will not be going through to the Nationals.

There were many notable individual performances during this game, but every player who pulled on a Chinnor shirt gave their all for the club and their team mates. Well done guys, particularly the Under 16’s.