CHINNOR were unfortunately their own worst enemy as Sale claimed a bonus-point victory at Kingsey Road.

Our Men’s First XV suffered their sixth defeat in eight National 1 matches as they endured another tough afternoon.

The visitors deserved their victory, defended superbly, and punished our mistakes, with three of their six tries scored off the back of charged down kicks.

At 25-13 down at half-time, the feeling was that we were still in the game, but we were never able to get ourselves back into the match, while too many penalties at the breakdown either invited pressure or stalled promising attacks. Our only real positive talking point was a hat-trick of tries for Jason Worrall, but that counted for nothing as we were left empty-handed for the second successive home game.

The defeat saw us drop back into the bottom three ahead of next week’s trip to Cinderford.

We headed into the game looking to build on the morale-boosting victory at Taunton Titans and we made one change to the starting XV, with Josh Pieterse coming in at loosehead prop.

Our full-back Nick Smith and Sale fly-half Kieran Wilkinson traded penalties early on during an opening quarter of an hour that we had looked the better side.

Particular highlights were a couple of fine carries through the centre of the field from lock Conor Brockschmidt, while scrum-half Greg Goodfellow’s fine box-kick pushed the visitors deep into their half.

However, a blow was delivered on 18 minutes. We were looking the better team and in the ascendency, but an attempted chip kick over the top caught a Sale hand and fell into the welcoming arms of Calum Morris. Centre Will Simonds came close to stopping the winger, but the Sale man scampered over half way and ran the remaining 50m unopposed. Wilkinson added the extras to put them into a 10-3 lead.

There was no reason to panic and the players didn’t. A dominant scrum led to a penalty and inside centre Will Feeney booted us deep into the visitors’ half. We sucked Sale in with pick and goes and it was on out wide, so Jack Walsh chucked a long pass out for Worrall who darted his way over. The wind was blowing from the Clubhouse side across the pitch, and Smith was off target with his conversion attempt, but we had reduced the deficit to two points.

With 23 minutes on the clock and the score at 8-10, this was shaping up to be a great contest. However, two tries in as many minutes gave the visitors a cushion.

Almost from the restart, Sale rampaged through the middle and although we initially scampered and recovered the situation, scrum-half Matt Bradley sent a perfectly weighted kick out to the right wing where full-back Mark Dixon touched down for an unconverted try.

Their third try came out of nothing. Seemingly in control mid-way inside our half, we played the ball back to clear, but wing Nev Edwards saw what was coming and charged down the kick to pick up and score out wide. Again, Wilkinson was unable to convert in the windy conditions, but Sale’s lead was now 20-8 after 28 minutes.

A couple more errors allowed Sale to enjoy more territory and keep the hammer down, but we did very well to recover. Firstly, back-to-back scrum penalties relieved the pressure, before Feeney's huge left boot took us into the opposition half. What we did from there was make our territory count and after No 8 Willie Ryan carried well, a lovely backs move saw wing Josh Hodson carve through and Worrall was fed for his second try of the afternoon. It went unconverted, but we had cut the gap to eight points.

We were well in this contest, but Sale were to deliver another meaty blow just before the break. A brilliant move saw the ball moved through the hands of Wilkinson and Morris for Edwards to dive over for his second and make it 25-13 at half-time.

Their lead was only 12 points, there was still life in this contest, but the next score was crucial and it arrived on 55 minutes.

Both sides had defended well for the opening 15 minutes of the second period, but Sale were to force another error. Wilkinson opted to kick in behind as the visitors struggled to make progress just over half-way and we gathered close to our try-line. We opted to kick clear, but Morris had chased well and threw himself in the way, leading to the ball travelling across the whitewash and the left wing won the foot race to touch it down. Wilkinson added the conversion to make it 32-13.

Our response initially was impressive as lock Oli Curry charged through the middle and made it all the way to within ten metres. We were right in front of the posts and looked certain to score off a pick and go, but the ball was lost forward over the try-line.

We kept on going, but Sale stood firm and continued to deliver deflating blows, especially a stolen lineout five metres out on 59 minutes which Morris then cleared up to half-way from behind the try-line.

Sale looked dangerous in flashes and Bradley thought he had scored with five minutes to go following strong carries from Oliver Longmore and Wilkinson, but to our relief the final pass was forward.

Our players never gave in and made a last-ditch attempt to claim at least a four-try bonus point. A brilliant break from Smith led to Worrall diving over for his hat-trick and leaving us just a score short of taking something out of the game.

There was to be one more try, however it was down the other end and Oscar Hirskyj-Douglas scored it to the delight of the Sale bench.

Another tough afternoon and as well as Sale played, we were unfortunately the architects of our own downfall.

Chinnor: Smith, Worrall, Simonds, Feeney, Hodson, Walsh, Goodfellow, Pieterse, Marshall, McNulty, Down, Curry, Brockschmidt, North, Ryan.
Reps: Robinson, Lines, Berry, Blakemore, Carter.

Sale: Dixon, Edwards, Robbins, Tincknell, Morris, Wilkinson, Bradley, Birchall, Brown, Ford, Bamber, Groves, Barron, Hughes, Priestley-Nangle.
Reps: Longmore, Makin, Gray, Davies, Hirskyj-Douglas.