Rosslyn Park (Away)

After a number of recent matches in which Chinnor have been building to playing at National standard, they chose to upset the form book by narrowly defeating legendary Rosslyn Park by 13 points to 12 away in East Sheen.

Chinnor played a lot better than the narrowness of the victory might suggest – dominating both territory and possession for greater parts of the match. The first 15 minutes was played exclusively in the Park half with Chinnor spurning two easy penalty kicks in favour of kicks to the corner. This adventurous approach by Chinnor denied them 12 easy points in the first half but ultimately led to victory.

With the Chinnor pack dominating exchanges, the constant pressure led to a series of narrow attacks and then use of the backs to see Pyers scoot in for an unconverted Chinnor try on 14 minutes.

Rosslyn Park eventually got some possession and burst through some inauspicious defence, blind side flanker Quinten Coetzer touching down on 29 minutes for Richard Mahony to convert. Park, through the promptings of influential fly half Mahony, came back into the match and only the sternest of defence kept them out. An indiscretion by Park allowed Chinnor’s Williams to nudge Chinnor ahead by 8 points to 7 with a well struck penalty goal on 37 minutes.

Rosslyn Park continued to attack and some straight running by Park’s inside centre Anthony Paul led to an unconverted try on 42 minutes allowing Park a 12 – 8 half time lead.

With the sun and wind in their faces, Chinnor made the brightest of starts to the second half. Playing the first 10 minutes in the opposition 22, Chinnor were kept out by some desperate defending. Trying to run the ball on all occasions, Chinnor were let down by inaccuracy in the final pass. A well worked move saw Chinnor’s Brown touch down - to be called back for a forward pass whose injustice even the Park faithful apologised for.

The turning point of the match came when Chinnor successfully defended five 5 metre scrums on their own line. This gave Chinnor heart and their constant commitment to attack led to a series of attacks on the Park line and an eventual score wide out by Chinnor full back, Ben Hewitt, 4 minutes into overtime. The drama continued with the referee ruling out Chinnor’s attempts to kick the conversion, with the ball falling off the tee several times in the strong wind. From the restart, Rosslyn Park engineered a drop kick attempt at goal. It sailed narrowly wide and the ref’s final whistle saw Chinnor’s first victory since October.

An adventurous approach was brave and tortuously led to victory. The Chinnor front row was highly influential and, in tight head Paddy Conlon, had the Man of the Match. Now too late in the season, Chinnor showed that they have finally learned to compete at National level.

Chinnor: Hewitt, Pyers, Oxley, Orchard, Brown, Williams, Wiseman, Winpenny (Iosefo 80), Immelman, Conlon (Whelan 74), Burrows, Hutchings (c), Jackman (Beets 58), Benson, de Bruin