Tries from Jason Worrall (2), Ofisa Treviranus and Sam Yawayawa helped the Oxfordshire side, who picked up two bonus points in the defeat, lead 24-18 at the break.

Rotherham opened up a two-point advantage within seven minutes of the second half, before a dogged defensive effort prevented the hosts from making the most of their possession and territory.

Chinnor head coach George said: “In the first half we played some of the best rugby I’ve seen here in the last 18 months.

“And to put in a second half performance like that was very frustrating.

“But credit where credit is due to Rotherham, they came here with a specific game plan and they executed it well.”

George added: “I think we tried to score too often off the first two or three phases as opposed to building an attack.

“But I think that is just something we have to learn from and if we do have to go through phases, be comfortable looking after the ball.

“We showed in the first half when we went four, five, six phases that we were able to create opportunities.

“I think in the second half we managed to get over three phases twice, so it’s just little things like that we need to progress and develop within our game.”

Treviranus, Yawayawa and Worrall crossed to put Chinnor 17-6 in front after 29 minutes, but there was a frantic end to the first period.

Rotherham scored two tries in as many minutes to go a point ahead, but the hosts struck again through Worrall to make it 24-18.

George added: “Their second try was just a mental lapse from the kick-off - one missed tackle and the guy broke through.

“To concede 14 points in the space of two minutes was very frustrating from a defensive point of view, but I thought we’d put ourselves back in a good place at half-time.”