Worthing RFC 14 – Chinnor RFC 45

Worthing started well by depriving Chinnor of possession for the first five minutes and probing deep into Chinnor’s territory. Then they game began to see-saw with both teams looking threatening.
Chinnor No 8 Jack Ramhaw was sin binned after 10 minutes for an alleged high tackle. Worthing were soon down to 14 men as well when full back Leeming was deemed to deliberately knock the ball forward preventing a Chinnor try. The referee awarding a penalty try to Chinnor giving them a 0-7 point lead.
This spurred Chinnor into an attacking mode with Oscar Heath breaking through the defence with the pack in full support. After several phases of play the ball was whipped wide for Phil Chesters to score an unconverted try in the corner. 10 minutes later and another blind side attack saw Chesters’ sprint around the Worthing defence for his second try converted by Bentley.
Worthing then fought back and found breaches in the Chinnor defence to put flanker Kemp Price in for a try converted by fly half McLean to reduce their arrears to 7 -19. Chinnor’s response was a Health half break with exquisite handling between Manning and Bentley to put Goss through a gap to score on half time with Bentley converting for a 7 – 24 lead.
The start of the second half was all Chinnor with driving runs by front row Lawrence and Gilding supported by Green and Manning forcing Worthing back to their try line where they defended magnificently. Eventually a darting run by Lamont and a switch pass to Hamilton enabled him to find the room to score a try converted by Bentley.
Worthing fought back again with a driving maul but were dispossessed on the try line by a sterling Chinnor defence. A Hamilton counterattack was stopped just short of the line but the ever present Bentley picked up to score and convert his own try.
Despite Chinnor’s dominance Worthing never gave up and centre Kiba Richards crashed over for a try converted by McLean. Chinnor then finished off an all round team effort with centre Orisi Nawaqaliva crashing into the 22 metre area sucking in the Worthing defence then spinning the ball wide creating a two man overlap with Lamont trotting in for the final try converted by Bentley, for a convincing 14 – 45 victory.
Third place Chinnor now face league leaders, Cinderford away next week in what will be a crucial match in fight for the championship, despite being so early on in the season.