Seconds play inspiring rugby

Chinnor seconds welcomed Bishop Stortford RFC to Kingsey Road for a friendly. Although the club had a number of players injured or unavailable, we were once again able to put out a strong team.

Chinnor came out of the blocks determined to play running rugby. The forwards and backs gelled from the kick off, and played great attacking rugby, with the backs running the ball along the line.

Sam Angell opened the scoring with a successful penalty 8 minutes into the game. Following that, Nick Harrison set up a wonderful try when he ran back to pick up a long clearance ball on his own 22 metre line and sidestepped the chasing kicker, and ran the length of the pitch, he then passed the ball to Sam Portland who had shadowed him from the start, and scored under the posts. It was converted by Sam Angell.

At the restart Harrison collected the ball and sent it out along the backline for Harry Hillier to make the break on the outside, and he then slipped the ball to Portland who scored his second try within 3 minutes. It was again converted by Sam Angell and Chinnor had taking a commanding lead of 17 points to 0.

Bishop Stortford then narrowed the gap with a try. The Chinnor backline were guilty of bunching at times and were beaten out wide.

Max Williams and Nick Harrison were outstanding in defence and attack and would be a credit in any club’s first team.

The following 15 minutes Chinnor enjoyed scoring further tries by Nick Harrison, Tom Curry and Tom Maul and all were converted by Sam Angell, and the half finished 38 points to 5 in Chinnor favour.

Within 5 minutes of the second half George Blewitt increased the lead with a try and again Sam Angell got the extra 2 points. Bishop Stortford’s spirit remained and they never stopped competing and for the next 30 minutes the score remained unchanged with Chinnor losing a bit of their structure, but they still played good rugby.

In the latter stages of the game Bishop Stortford were awarded their second try which they also converted. The last play of the game saw Nick Harrison score his second try and Sam Angell doing the honours again.

The final score was 52 points to 12 for the home side. This was a great team effort with 8 tries being scored, and a lot of good rugby played by Sam Ludgate, Josh Poole, Sam Portland, George Blewitt , Max Williams and Nick Harrison just to name a few. a

Man of the match this week goes to Nick Harrison and Tom Curry.