Chinnor 4th XV 22 vs. Aylesbury 3rd XV 0
Saturday 5th April 2008
Friendly

Chinnor IV’s hosted local village rivals Aylesbury III’s on the hallowed turf of Kingsey road this week. As the first team battled Oxford Harlequins, the IV’s were left at home holding their own in the blustery conditions. The regular line-up was boosted by new faces in the form of Daniel “Cwozy” Cuadrado at 9 and Chris “Ramrod” Garrod at 8, with Nathan “Webb” Ellis returning from his debut last week, and Tom “Didyou” Warner on the bench sporting products from his sponsor, Rimmel.

Winning the toss Chinnor took the wind again, as the forwards from both sides started to measure their opponents up. Playmaker Will “Getya” Dickinson soon started to dictate, and put play in Aylesbury’s half. The Chinnor lineout in the form of Mike “Harry Potter” Bambrook and Charlie “Lady” McBeth, started to show its teeth as the ball was stolen frequently. This was due in part to “Potter” employing his own Stannah lift technology to gain even greater heights.

This good possession led to Chinnor’s first score, as following a breakdown 5m out, “Cwozy” Cuadrado popped out from the ruck to “Spam” Foster who used his weight to go over from meters out. “BishBashBosh” added the conversion, 7-0. The forwards were battling hard at the breakdown, Rob “Roy” McLachlan and John “Half a” Pound securing well, while Mike “Meat & Veg” Neuman with Tony “Arfur” Daley showed nice hands.

Awarded a scrum on the Aylesbury 22, Matt “Billy Elliott” Locke hooked well. Chris “Ramrod” Garrod picked then popped to “Cwozy”. Again “Spam” Foster was the recipient and managed to gain the last few yards to touch down, 14-0.

As the first half matured, the home side did not let up. Awarded a penalty 20m out “BishBashBosh” added 3 points to give a 17-0 lead at half time.

With Nathan “Webb” Ellis on for Mark “Little” Cox the IV’s now faced the bitter wind. But reflecting on the first half, the back 3 of “Webb” Ellis, “BishBashBosh” and “Shakespeare” McDermott were poised for action.

A series of knock-on's seem to plague each side as scrum after scrum was awarded. Any passage of play without a scrum soon led to a lineout, with the Chinnor backs staring in disbelief. A miracle was called for and the next lineout saw a miracle ball called. “Billy Elliott” threw in and “Potter” caught, then popped to Tony “Arfur” Daley who peeled blind, pirouetted and touched down just inside the right hand corner, 22-0.

“Arfur” Daley’s try was significant, as the team stalwart maybe playing his last few games before retirement.  While not completely decided on hanging up his boots, the whole of the squad from the IV’s would like to thank Tony for his hard work and dedication over the last few seasons, as he has been a crucial player in many of the great wins the team has seen.

Tactically Chinnor were the better side using the conditions to their favour. “Getya” Dickinson put Chinnor in the armchair through intelligent kicking, which led to two tries in the first half. “Voldemorts” men host Littlemore next week in another tense league fixture.

Scorers:
Tries: Rowan “Spam” Foster (2), Tony “Arfur” Dailey, Ben “BishBashBosh” Bishop
Conversions: Ben “BishBashBosh” Bishop (2)
Penalties: Ben “BishBashBosh” Bishop

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