Chinnor's much awaited match against league leaders Hartpury College was marred by bad luck throughout as they fell 36-10.

Hartpury clearly deserved to win the match but Chinnor's chances were severely reduced by four pieces of bad luck. The first was having the match rearranged from Christmas to what was otherwise a blank day which meant that six regular players had made other arrangements and were not available. Added to this was the 16 players currently out through injury - so the day did not start well.

The second piece of bad luck occurred late in the first half when Chinnor playmaker Cathcart and centre Serrano clashed heads so severely that both required immediate hospital attention. Cathcart is unlikely to play again this season.

The third piece of bad luck occurred minutes later when, with a safely won scrum in the Hartpury half, the visitors scrum-half Field intercepted a pass between the Chinnor 8 and 9, to run straight to the Chinnor posts unopposed.

The fourth piece of bad luck was the amazingly harsh award of a penalty try by referee Chris Bartlett to Hartpury College. Electing to take a scrum for a penalty offence some 20 m from the Chinnor line, Hartpury pressurised the home pack. The scrum collapsed twice without offence and was reset. On the third occasion, the scrum went down and the referee immediately ran under the posts to award Hartpury a penalty try. There was an audible gasp from the crowd. Never before had anyone at Kingsey Road witnessed a penalty try from a scrum so far out from the line without any previous scrum penalty being awarded.

Chinnor contested the first half well despite missing some key players. Chinnor’s solitary try was a beauty. Awarded a penalty on the centre line wide on the left, Cathcart launched a mighty crossfield kick. Seymour chased the ball down and was cynically blocked by Hartpury's Welsh international Nathan Thomas. Although right on the spot, referee Bartlett saw no offence. However the ball bounced kindly for the chasing Tristan Corpe who touched down for a clever try. At one point they were 10-3 ahead but unfortunately due to the intercept try went in at half-time 10-10.

Hartpury, with British Lion Darren Morris rock solid in the scrum, work at a high pace all the time. This led to a further two late tries to take the match away from Chinnor by 36-10.

All in all, Hartpury were the better side and clearly deserved to win but, based on the good work of the first half and their cumulative bad luck, Chinnor were disappointed with the final score.