Chinnor seconds just hold on.

Chinnor seconds just hold on.

Chinnor seconds nearly threw away a very good lead and only beat Esher 3rds by 27 points to 26. However, it must be pointed out that Esher’s First team are in The Championship league, just one away from the Premiership.
The game started well for Chinnor, with all set pieces dominated by the boys and the forward’s power being just too much for Esher. The forwards and backs linked well with James Cathcart running the backs like a general and Ed Rixon marshalling the forwards, producing one of the best games of rugby.
Chinnor took the lead after 7 minutes with a penalty by Cathcart; Chinnor had Esher on the backfoot and on 15 minutes Cathcart sidestepped the Esher back line to score the first try, which he also converted.
On 25minutes Bas Corpe brilliantly weaved his way through the entire team and off loaded to Ben Hackshaw who scored under the posts, converted by Cathcart. This gave Chinnor a 17 points to 0 lead. Tom Webb scored a good push over try by the forwards, which again was converted by Cathcart. This was Tom’s second try in two weeks. The half finished 24 points to nil, with a well-deserved lead for Chinnor.
Esher came out for the second half a more determined and organised team. In the 52nd minute, sloppy play by Chinnor on the Esher 22 metre line saw them break away and have a free run in to score under the posts for a converted try. On 60 minutes an interception on the Chinnor 10 metre line allowed Esher another soft converted try, and the game was on. The Chinnor lead was now cut down to 10 points.
Five minutes later Cathcart was successful with another penalty allowing them a bit of breathing space, with a 13 point lead going into the final quarter.
Esher started to dominate the game, running at Chinnor and putting the boys under a lot of pressure. With Chinnor losing their first half dominance at the breakdown, Esher started to take advantage, resulting in a lot of turnover ball. In the last 10 minutes, Esher broke through the Chinnor defence twice, converting only one of the tries leaving the home side with a 1 point lead and a tense final 5 minutes.
The visitors had their chance of a win dashed with a missed penalty and a brilliant try saving tackle by Bas Corpe in the dying minutes. This was a great team performance against a very hard side, with man of the match going to James Cathcart - a first team’s loss but a second team’s gain.
Walter McGuicken