Old Patesians (Home)

Playing with a strong breeze at their backs, Chinnor started in a sprightly fashion against Old Patesians at Kingsey Road on Saturday. However things looked decidedly ominous for the home side when Patesians went ahead with soft try in the 6th minute. This again came from Chinnor's inability to adequately defend the immediate area surrounding either the set piece or the ruck. Patesians exploited this to the full when scrum-half Chris Walton picked up from the back of a ruck to stroll over virtually unapposed. With the wind gusting in increasing force it was important that Chinnor should strike back immediately which they did when Richard Williams delicately chipped ahead for Martyn O'Mahoney to out sprint the covering defence and score just 2 minutes later. With both conversions failing the scores were level pegging but this lasted for just two minutes before Patesians again took the lead. Again this emanated from poor defence when Chinnor missed a one on one tackle to let in James Davies under the posts. With Nunn adding the conversion Chinnor were very much under the cosh. Chinnor were next on the score sheet when John Pritchard atoned for his earlier defensive error to make a strong burst through the centre before handing on to Anthony Pyers to score. With Williams adding the conversion the scores were again level. With Williams kicking one of the two penalties on offer , Chinnor had a slender 3 point advantage at the interval but were left facing the strong south westerly blowing down the ground.

The rain also decided to make its presence felt in this second period, which made it all the more to Chinnor's credit when they scored quite a remarkable try after 15 minutes. They kept the ball in hand to create phase after phase, as they recycled the ball gradually up the park before the ball came out to Richard Williams to squeeze over in the corner. It was now backs against the wall big-time for the home side as they desperately endeavoured to hold onto their hard fought lead. They managed to hold out before Evans broke the defence to score. With Davies adding the conversion it was now game on for the remaining 18 minutes. It spoke volumes for Chinnor's discipline that they did not concede a penalty during this time as anything was kickable within a 50 metre radius. At the final whistle Chinnor had won by the most narrow of margins. This was a gutsy performance by Chinnor particularly in the second half. It showed there is character in the side to come back from two pretty hefty drubbings in their previous outings. The pack stood up to the task manfully with the return of JP Emmelman a definite bonus.