With a loss to newcomers Bury St Edmunds by 24-22, Chinnor will rue the two conversion attempts that hit the uprights.

The game started at a fast pace with Chinnor working the ball to the opposition line straight from kick off leading to a try by Manning after just two minutes. Bury replied almost immediately with a try from centre Sam Goatley who troubled the home side all afternoon. The visitors from Suffolk then took the lead when hooker Gibson crashed over to make the match score 5-10 from a penalty line out and maul.

A period of Chinnor pressure on the Bury St Edmunds line led to a try from Chinnor’s Vandermolen. Davies’ conversion put Chinnor ahead 12-10. They went further ahead when Angell bumped off a defender and strolled to the posts. Chinnor’s Martey was taken out whilst fielding a high ball and Hema was sin binned. This only galvanised the boys from Suffolk as they managed to score 14 unanswered points during Hema’s absence. As Chinnor fought to pierce the visitors’ defence, a delayed Chinnor pass was intercepted by Bury’s Mann who had a clear path to the line. Lord converted to make the score all square at half time, 17-17.

Bury St Edmunds started the half with a simple try from Goatley who bashed easily through the Chinnor midfield to score under the posts. The conversion put the visitors ahead 24-17. Chinnor, with their scrum beginning to dominate, found numerous scoring opportunities but managed to fluff the last pass consistently and it was not until the 77th minute that they scored again through Codlin’s try. The difficult conversion attempt missed to give Bury their first victory in this league by 24-22.

Bury’s persistence in running the ball paid off as they constantly found holes in the midfield. Chinnor created many scoring opportunities in the second half but something always went wrong.

Team
George Blewitt, Nevaro Codlin, Adam Dehaty, Junior Fatialofa, Robbie Martey, Sam Angell, Greg Goodfellow, Andy Darlington, Mark Darlington (c), Andy Berry, Andy Tibbatts, Ben Manning, Tom Burns, Ryan Long, Joe Vandermolen

Interchanges: Ryan Hopkins, Jamie Townsend, Michael Owen, Frank Jones, Mark Davies

Scorers
Tries (time): Manning (2), Vandemolen (23), Angell (34), Codlin (77)
Conversions (time): Davies (24)
Penalty goals (time):
Drop goals (time):