Chinnor 1st XV 53 vs. Maidenhead 1st XV 6
Saturday 10th November 2007
SW Division One

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A Chinnor vs. Maidenhead fixture always has an edge. In their promotion year, Chinnor lost just two games. One of these was at Maidenhead where Chinnor allowed a 25 pt. lead to fritter away and hand the spoils that day to Maidenhead. So, two years later and on a similar unbeaten run this game could well have been a case of deja vu. A potential banana skin in other words. It turned out not to be so.

Playing with the wind is also a potential hazard in that a realistic lead is required to take into the second half and defend. Chinnor had no qualms here. They used the wind to good effect to patiently put space between them and their opponents. With Matthew Hutchins failing a late fitness check, Andy Millburn continued to deputise. Martyn O'Mahoney came in for the injured Jaike Carter and Joe Winpenny started in place of Joe Iosofo. 

James Cathcart got the scoreboard ticking for Chinnor with a well judged penalty 8 minutes into the half. This was quickly neutralised with a Warren Abrahams penalty for Maidenhead some 3 minutes later. Tries by Craig Burrows via a rolling maul, Martyn O'Mahoney where he outpaced the cover defence top go over in the corner and Andy Millburn from a forward drive put Chinnor in control especially with James Cathcart converting the last two with well judged kicks from wide-out. Another Cathcart penalty on the stroke of half- time, from a deliberate knock-on by Richie Craig, who was yellow carded in the process, gave Chinnor a 25 point cushion at the interval.

An exchange of penalties between Abrahams and Cathcart got the second half underway. It was then all Chinnor with the pick-up and drive into the wind the order of the day. Owen Gustasfon in particular was calling the shots at this time where Chinnor probably played their best 20 minutes of rugby of the season to date. A fine break by Gustafson saw him feed the supporting Zane Winslade who outstripped the covering defence to score under the posts to give Cathcart an easy conversion. Another break by Gustafson put Cathcart in, and with further tries from Winslade and O'Mahoney, it was all over.

For Chinnor the half-backs controlled the game in the second period, with the back row all over the place. Tom Whelan and Joe Winpenny were prominent with some driving runs in the loose. A mention also for Andy Millburn. He managed to make his presence felt with some driving runs as well as putting in a solid performance in the lineout as did his partner, acting skipper Craig Burrows.

Huge game at Oxford in two weeks. Now there's a local derby if ever there was one.

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