In a hard fought cup match, Chinnor eventually came out winners by 19 points to 17.

In glorious late summer sun, Chinnor started powerfully, keeping all the play in Lydney’s 22. On 10 minutes, Cathcart opened the scoring for Chinnor with a penalty goal. A few minutes later, a serious injury to the Lydney scrum half, Jimmy Williams, led to a 25 minute delay whilst paramedics treated the unfortunate no 9 on the pitch and then transported him to hospital . Five minutes after the restart, Cathcart nudged Chinnor further ahead with another penalty goal. Lydney scored a try a few minutes later when speedy winger Chris Holder intercepted an extravagant Chinnor pass. Lydney fly half Mark Davies added the conversion to put Lydney 7-6 ahead.

Chinnor continued to dominate territory when Ben Hewitt played a leading role in Chinnor’s next score. Taking the ball deep and at pace, he glided past defender after defender. He neatly wrong footed the last Lydney defender, flanker Dean Jenkins, whose foot caught Hewitt. Deeming it foul play in the act of scoring, referee Ross Campbell awarded a penalty try. Jenkins was yellow carded. Cathcart added the conversion to give Chinnor a half time lead of 16-7.

Lydney started the second half with gusto and a penalty goal by Davies closed the gap to 16-10. Lydney went ahead in the match with their second interception try. Punting the ball long, Lydney chased their kick. Fielding the ball, Chinnor’s Powell, with perhaps too much time, elected to throw a long pass to no-one in particular in midfield. Lydney’s Craig Jones could no believe his luck as the ball bounced into his hands. Four strides later he was touching down between the posts. Davies converted to give Lydney a 17-16 lead. A dismayed Chinnor then embarked on a series of pick and drives. On 65 minutes, after a Lydney offence at a ruck, Cathcart put the penalty kick over for the last score of the match to give Chinnor a 19-17 win.

This was a good competitive match which featured many of Chinnor’s second XV, who all gave a good account of themselves. The Chinnor man of the match was Ed Rixon whose strength and ball retention skills contributed much to the Chinnor win.

Later news revealed that the injured Lydney player, Jimmy Williams, after a brain scan had been discharged home, battered and bruised but otherwise well, for which we are all grateful.

Video highlights can be found at https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/chinnor/?section=videos_photos_view&video_id=1044