Like gladiators in Rome the two sets of seasoned adversaries stepped onto the sodden turf at Kingsey Road needing victory to stay alive. In the context of this evening it was to continue to participate in the Berks, Bucks and Oxon League premier process.

Recent history favoured Grove, but on the night there was no history lesson and the weather was indiscriminate.  The intense floodlights not only served to illuminate some excellent play, they also backlit the fine driving rain, which intensified as the match progressed.

From the start, collectively, Chinnor demonstrated the commitment and urgency to dominate territory. During this period of the game, a Ben Hewitt penalty attempt by-passed the uprights before centre Tim Hughes came onto a ball as it was being spun wide. Hughes broke a series of tackles with his strength to cover the thirty metres or so to the try line, but was held up centimetres from a score. Then came tangible reward. This time the ball was being shifted in the opposite direction and the performer under the spotlight was Jamie Hiscock. Taking the ball in his stride some twenty metres out, he slammed on the brakes and stood up the two Grove centres before flooring the gas. As his turbo kicked in, the blistering acceleration and his presence of mind did the rest. It must have been slow motion for the centres, as Hiscock darted through the space between them at an acute angle, to commence an arcing run. The run took him around two more defenders before he showed awareness of the adverse conditions and the level of competition, by forcing his way through the despairing tackle of the last man to get the ball down under the posts. A spectacular and decisive score.

Ben Hewitt was left with the relatively simple task of capitalising on the enterprise of Hiscock and he made no mistake. 7-0. Hewitt then began to boss the game with some telling touch kicks into the corner, which complimented the conditions and kept Grove pinned deep in their own half save for an occasional foray into the last third being solidly defended by Chinnor.

Halftime came before the scoreboard moved again.

After the break, Grove sought to up the anti, but Chinnor were resolute and stood firm, putting in some big bone shattering hits in the process. Characteristically, Grove kept on the offensive. Their efforts were given due reward, when following a series of five metres scrums, which were well defended by Chinnor, a Grove player sneaked through a ruck to register their first points of the evening. The ensuing kick drifted agonisingly wide and it remained 7-5.

Chinnor did not panic. They continued to approach the game in a cohesive way, absorbing, repelling and attacking in numbers to provide close support. Prop Will Batting was prominent in this period as was the crisp passing of scrummie Ollie Heath.

It was during an attacking riposte that Chinnor were awarded a penalty out wide for handling in the ruck. Although within his range the kicking attempt by Ben Hewitt went agonisingly past the posts.

Undeterred, Chinnor remained focused and maintained their high work rate. After they had lost Jamie Hiscock following a bang on the head the coach felt compelled to give his replacements some game time, when given the situation older heads would have opted for no changes. Those who came on hit the ground running to maintain the status quo.

Chinnor were then awarded a further penalty for an indiscretion in a similar position to the previous one. This time Ben Hewitt got everything right and despite the elements, the ball bisected the posts. 

At 10-5, the game appeared to be in the bag, but history told the wise that there was no room for complacency in this battle.

In keeping with expectation, Grove summoned up a huge effort to retrieve the situation. Chinnor meanwhile, had their number. They countered every thrust, turning defence into attack.

When the referee blew his whistle to terminate proceedings, both sets of players and their entrages shook hands.

The after match evaluation, identified a great team performance, littered with fine and remarkable acts of skill and aggression as the keys to victory.

Team:  Batting, Bishop, Cuadrado, Davis, Duffy, Garrod, Grellier, Hackshaw, Heath, Hewitt, Hiscock, Hughes, John, Mauger, Maloney, Messenger, Rumble, Sanders, Spinks.