Seconds winning streak keeps on track

Chinnor Seconds Match Report for 22th October 2011
Chinnor Seconds vs. London Irish Amateur RFC
Chinnor Seconds were hosts to London Irish at the weekend, one of the few clubs whose first team is at the same level as Chinnor firsts, but in the London league National 3. Yet another tough game in this very competitive league that we play in! This week we lost both our hookers Alan Cawston and Steffan Myburgh. Ritchie Williams kept his spot in the first team but we did have Ricky Hopwood and Mark Wilkinson back. Chinnor had the upper hand for the first ten minutes, and Alex ‘Woody’ Woodhouse was on fire cutting the Irish backline in shreds with his runs, this led to the first try which was converted by Jack Green. The next 20 minutes saw most of the game played between the two 22 metre lines with the Irish pack putting Chinnor under a lot of pressure. The Chinnor defence was more than up to the task which made the game a little scrappy in a lot of the phases but none the less entertaining to watch. Irish were given the opportunity to score with a penalty which was successful making it 7 points to 3. Chinnor came back with a try scored by Ken Prinsloo and another penalty by Irish saw the first half finish Chinnor 12 Irish 6. Ben Hackshaw once again played out of position for the team as hooker and as result our set piece lineout came under pressure, but he was able to hold his own.
The second half started in the same vein with most of the play by Chinnor, and they did get further ahead with another penalty converted by Jack Green. Chinnor continued to attack but there was also a lot of defending with both teams trying to get the upper hand but not being able to achieve due some good play by both sides. Chinnor were first to concede in this passage of play by conceding a try to Irish and which made it was a very tight game with Chinnor’s lead being cut, 15 points to 13 in Chinnor’s favour.
The last 10 minutes Chinnor started dominating all the play with forwards and backs working well together and were rewarded for the great play with Ben Hackshaw breaking the deadlock by scoring a wonderful try which was converted by Jack Green. Chinnor enjoyed a little breathing space, but the boys kept up the pressure and were on the Irish try line with a chance of a bonus point try, when sadly the Ref called end of game with about 5 minutes to go. Hence a disappointing end to the game albeit winners 22 points to 13. Chinnor can look forward to many more wins with their well balanced team. Once again a great effort by all 20 players but Man of the Match goes to Woody for his penetrating runs and the visitors unable to lay a hand on him, and there were many of the boys following a very close second
WalterMcGuicken Chinnor Seconds Manager