After the euphoria of last week’s win over Cinderford Chinnor were brought down to earth by a sprightly Tonbridge Juddians side who took the game to their hosts for the whole 80 minutes.

The game started pretty evenly and then when Tonbridge appeared to be having the better of possession Ben Manning wrestled is way over the line for the first try of the game converted by Jonny Bentley to give Chinnor a fairly fortuitous lead . Tonbridge then had the majority of possession but Chinnor’s solid defence kept them out It was no surprise when Tonbridge, in the ascendency, scored an unconverted try by O’Sullivan shorty before the break HT 7-5

In the second half Tonbridge maintained their kicking game, particularly from the boot of their No 9, and added in repeated pick and drives to expose Chinnor’s defence around the fringes. This lead to them being first on the scoresheet when Bent dotted down following a rolling maul and some slick handling. The conversion was missed which was an Achilles heel in the Tonbridge performance. Chinnor replied almost immediately with Ben Manning diving under the posts for his second try of the day to restore Chinnor’s lead which Jonny Bentley again converted.

Then followed a period of tit for tat attacks and although Chinnor defended stoutly Galbrith-Lowe broke through for a third try for Tonbridge- Edging them ahead 14-15. Bentley maintained his 100 record with the boot for Chinnor by slotting a penalty followed by another Chinnor try by debutant Tom Ranaboldo which gave Chinnor a 9 point lead with 10 mins remaining. Tonbridge then ran in a 4th try for a much deserved bonus point which was once again unconverted.

It was a flat and error strewn performance by Chinnor but full marks to Juddians for making the game so close.

Matt Williams praised the leagues new boys “…. best team to come to Kinsey Rd this season. We lost the collisions in the first half- we took our chances but credit to Tonbridge Juddians who made us work very hard.

Pete Dankert –Tonbridge Juddians Coach reflected on what could have been.
“ We’re now learning to play in Nat2- today we came to get 1 point – got 2 and could have ended up with 5

When all is said and done Chinnor maintained their unbeaten home record and the Kingsey Rd fortress remains intact!

Chinnor
Bingham (Price),Lawrence, Gilding (Mason),Ramshaw (Ranaboldo), Green, Waddingham, Bordill, Manning, Gliksten ,Bentley , Chesters, Dancer(Hibberd) Hamilton(Nawaqaliva),Barnes cpt, Lamont

Tonbridge Juddians
Whitmarsh (Watson, Bradman) O’Sullivan ,Conlon(Jackson), Davey, Irvine, Colderick, Bent, Bellinger (Nagle),Edwards ,Holmes (Prescott),Lawson, McMahon cpt , Tout, Coxon-Smith, Galbrith-Lowe

Referee Dr Jonathan Cook

Attendance 610

Report by Ken Vaughan