CHINNOR dug in to win a thriller at Kingsey Road and secure their first home victory over Bishop’s Stortford since October 2019.

Leading 33-22 with six minutes to go thanks to Mark Darlington’s converted try, the match was seemingly done and dusted, but the visitors had other ideas as a Will Roberts score set up a tense finale.

Stortford searched for the match-winner and looked to play with the ball in hand before a penalty allowed them to kick into our half. It was last chance saloon for the visitors, and James Down brilliantly stole their lineout, allowing Luke Carter to boot the ball out of play and allow our home faithful to celebrate.

On the sidelines it was all a little nervy – would we hold on? But the players showed impressive character and resolve to come out on top and earn a magnificent five points, helping us climb to ninth in National 1.

While we were a little bit loose in possession at times, our set-piece – particularly our scrum - was outstanding with Keston Lines, Elliot Millar-Mills, Reece Marshall, Darlington and Bradley Harewood all performing well in the front row, while Josh McNulty – operating at lock rather than his usual tighthead slot in place of the injured Conor Brockschmidt – offered extra weight from behind.

Our maul and lineout – a big improvement on last week - was pretty impressive too, with hookers Marshall (2) and Darlington scoring tries on their return to action, while Kieran Goss made it three meat pies in four games as we crossed five times in what proved to be a belter of a National 1 contest.

Four changes were made to the starting line-up from last week’s defeat at Plymouth Albion, with a few firsts in there as Ben Manning returned to the XV following four months out with injury and tighthead Millar-Mills was in the team from minute one. Darlington also started at hooker, with Will Blakemore coming in at inside centre. On the bench, Marshall made a welcome return from injury, while back-row Will Cadden was named in a First XV squad for the first time after a strong season so far for our Falcons.

In all honesty, we were never really at the races in the first half and too loose in possession which suited Stortford, however the visitors only led 15-14 at the break when it could and perhaps should have been more.

The Hertfordshire side – who had won seven of our previous ten meetings – started fast and opened the scoring on five minutes. We defended a maul well, but we had been sucked in and there was plenty of space out wide, so fly-half Dan Cole sent a crossfield kick over for wing Chris Smith to collect and score an unconverted try.

We certainly hadn’t got going yet, but there were signs with lovely hands from outside centre Jason Worrall releasing Dean Hammond for a storming carry down his left wing, while our scrum had already bared its teeth.

However, on 13 minutes we were reduced to 14 with No 8 Willie Ryan yellow carded following successive penalties. We hung in there, though, defending the resulting driving maul well, while Blakemore put in a meaty hit in the centre of the field as Stortford then played wide and were forced into touch.

There were a few more signs that we were growing into the game as McNulty carried strongly off a lineout deep in our half before right-wing Goss chased fly-half Will Feeney’s kick and tackled Stortford’s Jake Morris into touch. Gossy then raced down his wing as we attacked on the blind, and Carter was tackled 15 metres out. However, Stortford scrambled well and were straight on the attack – arguably feeding off our own loose play – with centre Francis Moore driving through the middle, but Worrall did brilliantly to firstly, make the tackle and secondly, turn over the ball.

The visitors continued to put us under pressure, but we were defending well and when Stortford resorted to a little grubber in behind, Darlington swept up neatly and found Feeney who booted us clear. This gave us an opportunity to move up the pitch and we did just that.

When the ball was back in our hands, Blakemore threw a pass to Worrall who carried through the centre and over the 22. We went direct from there and Stortford were going backwards, with Ryan forcing his way over for an inevitable try. Full-back Nick Smith added the extras and we now led 7-5 after 28 minutes.

Our tales were up, only for a monster 50m penalty from Cole to enable Stortford to not only retake the lead but reclaim the momentum. Another meaty kick from the fly-half then saw them have a lineout five metres out and eventually scrum-half Lloyd converted his own try for a 15-7 lead.

To be fair, Stortford deserved to be ahead, but crucially we cut their advantage to a point. There was still time to respond before the break and we did just that with an unstoppable driving maul leading to Marshall plunging over for his sixth of the season. Smith slotted the conversion through the sticks and, although we were trailing, we arguably headed into the break feeling in a better place.

We started the second half really well. Another superb scrum led to Blakemore carrying strongly and the resulting penalty led to Feeney kicking to the corner. At the lineout, flanker Max Heathman sensed the opportunity to peel off the maul early and he came so close to scoring his first try for the Club as he was held up.

A goal-line drop-out was to come and, crucially, Millar-Mills got his hands to it, allowing us to go straight back on the attack. Stortford defended the pick and goes, but it was on out wide and we worked it to the right for Goss to dive over for an unconverted try and a 19-15 lead after 45 minutes.

For all of our good work, we were still a little bit loose and there were shades of our defeat at home to Sale in October when just eight minutes later we saw a clearance kick charged down by Toby Tierney and the Stortford man scored under the posts. Lloyd added the extras and they were now back in front by three points with 53 minutes on the clock.

We again responded fantastically and a ruck penalty soon after the restart gave Feeney the opportunity to kick to the corner. There was a sense of inevitability about the lineout and Marshall found his way over at the back of the maul for try seven of the campaign, with Smith superbly slotting the conversion to make it 26-22 after 57 minutes.

There was still plenty of time for more twists and turns, and when Cole again decided to go for the sticks from 50m, it looked like our lead would be cut to a point - but his effort dropped short.

The defensive shift would have to continue, while we would have to face further adversity with Marshall yellow-carded for a high tackle. Despite being a player down, we stood up to the task and after defending well inside our own half, we worked our way deep into opposition territory. From here, our scrum took over, keeping them pinned deep in their own half and after three penalties Stortford loosehead Tristan Smith was sin-binned.

Due to an injury in the first half, the visitors did not have another front row to bring on, so scrums became uncontested. Our decision was to kick to the corner this time, and from there our maul moved sideways before motoring towards the try-line and over the whitewash for Darlington to score his fifth of the campaign. Smith again successfully converted and we now led by 11 points with six minutes to go.

With the sin-bin now over, Cadden came on for his debut and Stortford had no choice now but to play and chase the game. They did just that and although Smith prevented George Cullen from scoring, Will Roberts dived over and Lloyd added the extras as the visitors closed to within four.

Tantalisingly, there was still time left on the clock and the boys needed to dig in, putting in a fantastic shift to keep them in their own half, until a penalty allowed Cole to kick them over half-way.

It was now the last play and it all hinged on this moment. The lineout was only just inside our half, but we all know the quality Stortford possess … man, it was tense. But Down was the calmest person at Kingsey Road, rising at the lineout to superbly steal and knock the ball to Carter who gladly put it out of play.

Phew! What a game and what character from the boys, who stuck in the contest, worked out what they needed to do to beat Stortford and worked hard for each other to earn the W and back-to-back home victories for the first time in nearly ten months.

Who’s next? Ah yes, league leaders and local rivals Rams away on Friday night.

Chinnor: Smith, Goss, Worrall, Blakemore, Hammond, Feeney, Carter; Lines, Darlington, Millar-Mills, Down, McNulty, Manning, Heathman, Ryan.
Reps: Harewood, Pearson, Marshall, Cadden, Walsh.

Bishop’s Stortford: Powell, Morris, Moore, Ayrton, C Smith, Cole, Lloyd; T Smith, Jackson, McCrone, Charter, Nkwocha, Langworthy, Jones, Wrafter.
Reps: Wright, Roberts, Tierney, Bolton, Cullen.