Today saw the opening round of matches in the newly created Berks, Bucks and Oxon Under 17 league. Chinnor entertained Drifters on a bright breezy day at Kingsey Road and lost the toss. Drifters elected to play into the gusting breeze. Both teams worked hard from the start with Chinnor taking the lion’s share of territory. However, it took them sometime to convert that advantage into points.

Chinnor rucked over and the ball went wide, where some neat interplay put the irrepressible Tim Hughes into the barrel and he blasted through the cover to get around by the posts. Ollie Heath took on the stiff breeze, but his effort was blown off course. 5-0.

Drifters came back aggressively and were rewarded when one of their flankers burst through the defensive line and bundled his way under the posts to set up an easy conversion. 7-5. The game continued at a high tempo, but neither team were recompensed for their efforts. Consequently, despite much activity, when the halftime whistle blew, Drifters still led 7-5.

The second half began at a frenetic pace, as both teams sort to impose their will. It was Chinnor who made the first impression, when after winning a scrum out right, Ollie Heath set his back line alight and Tim Hughes again did the damage. Ollie heath parted the uprights to make it 12-7. That score ignited Chinnor and it was not too long before they rucked over to take possession of the ball. Tough tackling flanker, Neil Mauger, broke through the middle and found himself isolated. Having quickly assessed the situation, he went for the line. Seeing the fullback blocking his path and the pacey backs hunting him down, he dropped his shoulder and ran straight over the defender to get himself on the score sheet. Ollie heath made the most of the opportunity to make it 19-7.

At that stage, whilst it would have been dangerous to make assumptions, Chinnor were clearly in the ascendancy and there seemed no way back for Drifters, despite their continued best efforts.

Fly half Ben Hewitt certainly took no chances as he continuously made the Drifters players turn on their heels and track back into their own half for a lineout. The control asserted by Hewitt complimented the industry and incisiveness of Chinnor’s attacks with the ball in hand.

It came as no surprise when the busy Dean Spinks gave continuity to forward momentum by taking the ball at pace and going over out wide to make it 24-7. Ollie Heath was not too far away with the conversion attempt.

Chinnor kept their focus and their forward instincts, to create a fifth try, which was ably scored in the corner by under 16 player, Ben Brooks, following a series of incisive thrusts. Ollie Heath rose to the occasion and slotted the conversion from virtually the touchline. 31-7 said it all except how hard Drifters had worked, however, next week will be another game and Chinnor will have to do it all again at Thatcham. Well done lads. There were a number of notable individual contributions