CINDERFORD 20 – CHINNOR 31

Chinnor beat league leaders Cinderford with a dominant second half performance and move into second place in the league.
Cinderford started well playing with the wind and using it to good effect to pin Chinnor deep in their half. Over enthusiastic play by the visitors caused Chinnor to give away two penalties which Cinderford’s Moffat converted with ease to give them a 6 – 0 lead.
After 20 minutes Chinnor forwards began to obtain good possession enabling centre Orisi Nawaqaliva to make a 30 metre break up to the Cinderford 22 metre area. A trade mark Goodfellow dummy then found a gap and the supporting Ben Manning twisted his way over the line for Chinnor’s first try which Bentley converted. Chinnor went straight back into the attack with lock Jack Ramshaw on the rampage followed by a number of forward drives towards the line with prop Nick Bingham forcing his way over for a second try converted by Bentley.
Cinderford fought their way back into the game with right winger Norville jinking through the Chinnor defence, sucking in the opposition. They then spread the ball wide to the left wing where an overlap allowed flanker Beer to cut inside to score Cinderford’s first try which Moffat converted to reduce their arrears to a narrow 13 – 14.
Chinnor responded well with Goodfellow taking a quick penalty, darting through a gap and gaining 20 metres. Cinderford, now in some disarray, offended to give away a penalty which Bentley converted. Bentley was again in the action putting a grubber kick through Cinderford’s defence, bouncing kindly for Goss to pick up on the 22 metre line and feed inside to flanker George Oliver who galloped over for Chinnor’s third try. Bentley’s boot secured another conversion giving Chinnor a 13 – 24 lead at half time.
In the second half Chinnor had the wind advantage and long kicks by Goss and Bentley into Cinderford’s territory soon turned defence into attack. This pressure caused Cinderford to give away a few penalties, one of which was taken quickly by scrum half Goodfellow who passed to the charging and unstoppable Nawaqaliva to score Chinnor’s bonus point try. Bentley converted.
Chinnor had most of the territorial advantage in the second half but excellent defending by Cinderford preventing Chinnor from scoring. The occasional Cinderford attack was rewarded with a drive from a 5 metre lineout with No 8 Harry Hone diving over the line to score. Moffat converted. Sterling Chinnor defence in the last minute prevented another Cinderford try with strong tackling causing Cinderford to knock the ball forward just short of the try line. Chinnor ended up worthy winners with a 20 – 31 point victory.
Next week Chinnor are at home to league new comers Tonbridge Juddians who have a mid-table position.