Chinnor seconds the one that got away

Chinnor Seconds Match
Report for 7th January 2012
Tonbridge Juddians seconds vs. Chinnor Seconds
Chinnor Seconds travelled to Tonbridge to play Tonbridge Juddians seconds. Their first team play in the London league of National 3 were they are currently in second spot. Although we had beaten them in our previous encounter by quite a large margin the score line did not reflect the full story and we knew it was going to be another tough game.
The Chinnor boys started well with all the attacking and TJ.s but an interception pass by them in their own 22 metre area allowed Juddians to take a 7 point lead after 5 minutes, and it was the first time they touched the ball. This appeared to take the wind out of the boys and although they had many opportunities to score, the wrong options were taken which allowed Juddians to turnover ball when we became isolated on too many occasions. The Ref took close on half way through the first half before he awarded a penalty for Juddians going off their feet. This had been part of their play up until then - Alex Woodhouse was successful with the Kick. The Chinnor boys made it hard for themselves, the Ref was happily giving penalties against Chinnor for trying to get the ball and not Juddians for not releasing after the tackle. Juddians were successful with two more penalties and they took they took a commanding lead of 13 points to 3 after 35 minutes. Eventually the Chinnor team began to play as a team and were rewarded with a try by Guy Hackshaw, and cut the Juddians lead down to 13 points to 8 at the break
Chinnor’s players improved their game in the second half but were unlucky with two missed penalties, one hitting the post. With both teams playing good rugby and defending well, It took Chinnor up to the 25th minute of the second half to take the lead with a drive over try by Ben Ramsdale which was converted by Woodhouse, and Chinnor were in the lead by 15 points to 13. Thirty three minutes into the second half Chinnor kicked the Ball down field into the Juddians 22 and their fullback knocked the ball on 5 meters forward it wasthen picked up by another one of their players. The only one that did not see the knock on or the off side was the Referee. Chinnor stopped playing for the penalty and Juddians kept on playing which resulted in a try and they took the lead 18 points to 15. It was a sad day for the players, but they knew that they should have had the game dead and buried long before this.
With a number of players not available and being let down by some others the boys will dust themselves off and make sure they play a lot better next week end.
Walter McGuicken
Second team manager