CHINNOR’S resurgence continued as they recorded a third-straight bonus-point win to climb 12 points clear of the relegation zone.

Tries from Jason Worrall (2), Reece Marshall, Will Blakemore, Tom Price and Willie Ryan helped our First XV convincingly beat second-bottom Leeds Tykes.

It was a crucial home victory as we made the most of our game in hand to put further breathing space between ourselves and the bottom three, moving up to eighth in National 1.

We have a good bit of momentum about us now and although injuries continue to hamper us, players are stepping up to the plate and taking their opportunities, with a special mention going to Andy Berry who produced a man-of-the-match performance on his 75th cap.

Worrall scored his 14th and 15th tries of the season, while Marshall grabbed his tenth and Ryan eighth, but it was a great moment for Blakemore and Price as they crossed for the first time for the Club, with the latter finishing with a strong 17-point haul.

Nine changes, five positional, were made from last week’s win at Esher, with Berry, Blakemore, Will Cave and Bradley Harewood coming into the side. With Henry Pearson also starting, and Ben Wilkinson and George Grose on the bench, it was also particularly pleasing to see five homegrown players involved in the matchday 20.

The heavy rain of the morning was replaced by a glorious March afternoon for this rearranged fixture and we made a fast start to lead 14-0 after eight minutes, with our tries coming off two fine attacking plays off lineouts on the Tykes 22.

On two minutes, scrum-half Luke Carter broke through a gap and was stopped just five metres from the line. Leeds were in trouble and we patiently recycled, keeping the pressure on and hooker Marshall drove over from close range. Price slotted the extras to make it 7-0.

Six minutes later and that lead was doubled. Tykes were narrow in defence off the lineout and we exploited it - right wing Worrall running hard at the white shirts, creating a two-on-one and feeding inside centre Blakemore who got plenty of air time on his dive under the sticks. Price added the extras for 14-0.

It looked like we would run away with it there and then, but moments later we found ourselves down to 14 men as openside flanker Cave was sin-binned and it looked as though Leeds had replied. Loosehead prop Connor Hancock peeled off a maul and touched down, but the referee must have already blown his whistle for a Chinnor infringement and the try was not allowed. Leeds went back to the corner, but this time they were penalised at the set piece and the opportunity disappeared.

We then had a chance to add to our tally after outside centre Grant Hughes drove forward and we moved the ball to the right but knocked on over the try-line. Errors had been creeping into the match for both teams and while we were back up to 15, Leeds then had a player sin-binned with fly-half Tighe Maxwell-Whiteley shown yellow.

The half looked to be petering out, but when a second Tykes player was yellow-carded - this time centre Tom Williams for a high tackle on Hughes - we made the extra men count.

The penalty had given Price the opportunity to kick to the corner and Leeds initially defended the maul. We kept the pressure on as Berry carried strongly towards the posts and there was space out to the right, so we sent it through the hands with full-back Nick Smith feeding Worrall for a score in the corner. The half-time whistle sounded after Price impressively slotted the conversion from the touchline and the scoreboard now read 21-0.

Leeds hadn’t really been at the races, but they were much improved after the break and started the second half strongly.

However, just when we thought we had resisted their pressure, Tykes did get off the mark. We played out from a scrum deep in our own half and lock John Okafor pounced to intercept and dive over. Maxwell-Whiteley converted to make it 21-7.

Our reaction was decent. Smith collected a high ball on half-way and proceeded to beat three players, before he was unceremoniously halted by a high tackle. The resulting lineout did not go to plan, but Ryan brilliantly blocked the clearance kick and Price latched on to the loose ball to score under the posts and secure the four-try bonus point. The young fly-half again added the extras as it became 28-7.

Leeds refused to give in and showed great fight to, in all honesty, create a few nerves. Quickfire tries from Matt Burke and Charlie Venables made it 28-17 after 64 minutes and had Maxwell-Whiteley added the conversions our lead would have only been seven points.

It felt like the next score was going to be crucial, but our players certainly didn’t look nervous and proceeded to put the match to bed. After Grose and Grant were stopped just short, advantage was played for a knock-on from Okafor and the big lock was sin-binned as we went back for the penalty. The result of that was a tap-and-go, with Ryan driving over from close range for our fifth score. Price slotted the extras and we were now 35-17 in front.

There was no doubting the result now and we spent the rest of the match inside the Leeds 22. Tykes needed something from the contest, but they remain 14 points adrift of safety as they were caught over playing deep in their half and Worrall intercepted a pass to stroll in for try number six.

A convincing victory and outstanding effort again from the boys. It feels like we’re on a bit of a roll at the moment and we can head into next Saturday’s home fixture against third-placed Cambridge with confidence.

Chinnor: Smith, Worrall, Hughes, Blakemore, Ratukadreu, Price, Carter; Lines, Marshall, Harewood, Down, Pearson, Brockschmidt, Cave, Berry.
Reps: Wilkinson, Heathman, Ryan, Grose, Walsh.

Leeds Tykes: Venables, Mounsey, Dixon, Williams, Jukes, Maxwell-Whiteley, Laughton; Hancock, Mace, Cordice, Brady, Okafor, Smith, Maguire, Burke.
Reps: Derbyshire, Parker, Collins, Keith, Ree.