The sun was shining to mark the end of the season game against Newton Abbot. Many of the Chinnor faithful were feeling the affects of a long season after attending the previous evenings Sportsman’s’ Dinner where they listened to the wise words of Dean Richards and sampled the fine food and wine until the early hours. So an exciting game was needed to bring the league season to a close.

On the first game of the season Chinnor visited Newton Abbot full of expectation and were frustrated to come away with a draw against this newly promoted side. The season has shown that Newton Abbot were well worth their draw and this game was one which both teams wanted to win as the victory would mean either 4th or 5th position in the final league table for the winning side.

Chinnor started positively with strong forward movements that drove Newton Abbot back towards their line. After 6 minutes the pressure showed after a series of rucks and mauls produced good ball for the backs to attempt to pierce the Newton Abbot defence. One such move allowed Huw Morgan to go over in the far corner for the first try of the game. The conversion by James Cathcart was successful as he continued to show how dangerous he is within 50 metres of the posts.

The game then entered a period of pressure from Newton Abbot where they pushed Chinnor back to their line, but on every journey into Chinnor territory the Newton Abbot handling let them down and Chinnor were able to relieve the pressure.

Two penalties by Cathcart and 1 from Alex Jeffrey Newton Abbot’s scrum half were the only points scored in the rest of the first half. Half time score 13 – 3.

The second half started and looked like it was going to be a dour affair with neither side really showing any ability to break down the defences of their opponents. Both sets of supporters were becoming increasingly frustrated with the antics of both sets of players at the breakdown as many of these seemed to be missed by the officials. Unfortunately for Chinnor the referee decided to act and put Nick Harrison into the bin for 10 minutes.

With one player off the field, Chinnor were under pressure and Newton Abbot started to camp out in the Chinnor 22. As Newton Abbot put better phases of play together they finally got their reward as they tied up the Chinnor players to create an overlap for the Newton Abbot winger Jake Monnington to go over in the corner. The try was not converted. 13 – 8.

Changes were made in the Chinnor team with Ian Stock replacing Joe Pickett and Mark Chase replacing Sam Angell. These changes made a major change to the direction of the game within minutes. Mark Chase’ direct running causes all sorts of chaos in the Newton Abbot defence and suddenly Chinnor were on the front foot.

In a period of 22 minutes, Chinnor scored 4 tries with sparkling running lines and powerful pressure from backs and forwards. Ed Vickers scored a try after a period of dominating scrum performance from the Chinnor pack that was now clearly in the ascendency. Toby Prescott moving to the wing with Ricky Hopwood at scrum half gave Chinnor another dimension and Prescott was rewarded with a try after some sparkling runs by Goode and Chase. Two more tries came on 72 and 76 minutes as the Chinnor pack totally overwhelmed the Newton Abbot scrum and were able to deliver great ball that resulted in tries for Richie Williams and Ricky Hopwood. Cathcart of course, converted all 4 tries.

The Chinnor faithful enjoyed the sun recovering (slowly) from the excesses of the night before and after last weeks game against champions elect Hartpury, it was the perfect riposte to cement 4th position in the final league table and set up the team for the Oxfordshire Cup Final on Easter Sunday.