CHINNOR battled hard to claim a well-deserved bonus point as high-flying Cambridge inflicted a narrow defeat at Kingsey Road.

Our First XV produced a spirited performance full of relentless work rate against a side on a five-match winning run and still hopeful of challenging for the National 1 title.

For the most part it was an arm wrestle of a contest, with the strong wind and, at times, heavy rain, making it difficult for both sides.
With seven minutes remaining, Cambridge held a 19-5 lead and looked to be safe to go in search of a four-try bonus point.

However, we had other ideas and late scores from Jack Walsh and Grant Hughes saw us finish the game just two points behind. The conditions made it a difficult day from the kicking tee, but we should take plenty of heart from the fact we were just two conversions away from pulling off what would have been an impressive victory.

This result saw us drop one place to ninth due to an inferior points difference to Birmingham Moseley, but we are 11 points above the relegation zone with three matches remaining.

There was a great atmosphere at the club pre-match with a sold-out lunch celebrating the growth of women’s and girls rugby at Chinnor.

On the pitch, Mark Darlington, Josh McNulty, Morgan Eames, Willie Ryan and Will Feeney returned to the starting line-up as we eyed a fourth straight victory.

We played into the wind in the first half and the opening seven minutes brought with it two heavy downpours which made handling extremely difficult. The conditions played their part in a Cambridge knock-on, which led to a scrum and a penalty which we kicked to the corner.

The maul made a bit of progress and we played out with No 8 Ryan carrying hard towards the posts. There was space out on the right if we could get the ball moving and we duly did, but winger Worrall still had work to do and he superbly beat his man to score for the 16th time this season. Fly-half Tom Price was unable to convert into the strong wind, but we led 5-0.

From there, Cambridge went on to dominate territorially, but we resisted, held firm and produced a dogged defensive display to frustrate the visitors.

Nick Smith – on the left wing – did brilliantly to intercept a pass and avoid knocking on while under pressure, scrum-half Luke Carter and centre Hughes stopped powerful wing Kwaku Asiedu, while we also held up a try in the corner.

By now, though, the penalty count was rising against us and a yellow card was waiting to happen. Centre Will Blakemore was the player to receive it for a high tackle, and this time Cambridge converted from a driving lineout, with hooker Ben Brownlie touching down on 30 minutes. Fly-half Steff James added the extras to make it 5-7.

We needed to do a little more defending before the half was out, but at the break we may well have been the happier team for reducing the visitors to just the seven points with the conditions in their favour.

It was now our turn to play with the wind at our backs, but we just couldn’t make it count. Smith ran a fine line and stepped a Cambridge man to launch a 44th-minute attack, but the ball was knocked-on when passed out to the right, while our lineout never really functioned as we found ourselves deep in opposition territory.

The visitors started to come back at us, but all the time they were never able to make progress as our defensive efforts – led by the likes of Ryan, Andy Berry and Eames – saw them lose ground rather than gain any.

However, on 54 minutes we were punished for a being a little loose in possession. Having collected a kick mid-way inside our half, we ran it back and looked to offload in the tackle, but the loose ball was collected by the visitors and they sensed an opportunity. Finding an edge, Joe Green raced down his right wing and fed James to dive over and make it 5-12.

We looked for a way to respond, but even when we got our lineout functioning Cambridge defended well to see off the danger and as the clocked ticked into the 70th minute it was the visitors who looked to be gaining control of the contest.

That was definitely the case when prop Seb Brownhill finished off a flowing move down the right – James converting – to give them a 14-point lead with seven minutes to go.

Cambridge still needed a fourth try to gain a much-needed bonus-point and they looked to play their way out from the kick-off. But this arguably caused them problems and our workrate and desire again came to the fore as we stole possession on the 22, before visiting centre Matt Hema was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock on.

From there, we piled on the pressure and after a series of penalties, which included Ryan being stopped short at a tap-and-go, replacement scrum-half Walsh found his way over for an unconverted try to reduce the arrears.

Two minutes to go and nine points between the sides, Cambridge now had possession inside our 22 and they were hunting for that four-try bonus point. However, it wouldn’t arrive and instead they lost possession and Hughes proceeded to run in a superb 80m try, scoring under the posts. The Scotland 7s player converted his own score with a drop kick to make it 17-19, but there was no time left on the clock as referee Andy Wigley blew his whistle almost immediately.

A great contest, with plenty of fight and an entertaining finish. Yes, our three-match winning run has come to an end, but in some ways it doesn’t feel like a defeat. On to next week and we welcome Hull to Kingsey Road for our penultimate home game of the season.

Chinnor: Feeney, Worrall, Hughes, Blakemore, Smith, Price, Carter; Lines, Darlington, McNulty, Down, Eames, Berry, Cave, Ryan.
Reps: Harewood, Marshall, Heathman, Grose, Walsh.

Cambridge: Tarrant, Asiedu, Hema, Williams, Green, James, Duffin; Brownhill, Brownlie, Collins, Frost, Baxter, Irvine, Adams, Maka.
Reps: Priestley, Walker, Bretag-Norris, Dabell, Thame.