On a bright, crisp winter’s day, Chinnor ran in 10 tries to defeat Old Redcliffians 67-17.

Chinnor’s first score of the afternoon came in just the first minute when, straight from the kick off, Chinnor zapped the ball from side to side, culminating in Seymour touching down. The visitors from Bristol had not touched the ball apart from the kick off. Cathcart converted to give Chinnor a 7-0 lead.

The 9th minute saw the first of Chinnor’s trio of bodged try touchdowns. Rapid approach work saw Chinnor’s Matthew Goode lose the ball in the act of touching down. Minutes later Liam Gilbert broke from the back of a 5 metre scrum for the Old Reds line. As he crossed, the ball slipped from his grip.

With all the play in Old Reds half, the visitors were penalised in the 17th minute for offside. James Cathcart’s penalty goal increased the lead to 10-0. Two minutes later, another penalty saw Alex Waddingham take a quick tap penalty. A series of quick rucks saw Cathcart deliver an exquisite long pass to Tom Gray who accelerated impressively for a try in the corner and a 15-0 lead. Four minutes later, Cathcart launched a garryowen which he fielded himself. A quick offload to the supporting Henry Colver at pace led to the fullback scoring Chinnor’s third try. Cathcart improved the home score to 22-0.

On the 35th minute, a superb passage of play saw Chinnor release Pip Seymour for the corner. He outsprinted the defence to the corner and cantered to the posts. Unaware of the opposite winger closing from the other side of the pitch, he was distracted enough to fumble the act of touching down. Blushes were spared a few minutes later when Gilbert burst off the back of a dominant scrum to touch down for the bonus point try, making the half time score 27-0 to Chinnor.

Old Redcliffians started the second half positively. Three minutes into the half, a smart backs move off a midfield scrum saw Chris Thompson score the visitor’s first try of the day, converted by Hall to make the match score 27-7. A few minutes later saw good work by Chinnor’s Andrew Smith and Gilbert to feed Matthew Goode who barrelled over for Chinnor’s 5th try and a score of 32-7.

On the 51st minute, Goode sliced through the home defence but was held up short of the line. He offloaded to the supporting Waddingham who crashed over for his first try of the afternoon. Cathcart’s conversion increased Chinnor’s lead to 39-7. Minutes later, Tom Gray came off his wing to bisect the defence and offloaded to Tom Mowbray in support to score Chinnor’s seventh try of the day. Cathcart’s conversion saw Chinnor 46-7 ahead. The next score was to Old Redcliffians on the 65th minute when Thompson went over for an unconverted try and a match score of 46-12. Three minutes later, Gilbert scored his second after good carrying by Andrew Smith. Cathcart did the usual for a 53-12 lead.

On the 71st minute, the visitors from Bristol exploited some weak Chinnor tackling when fullback Owen danced his way through for Old Reds third try and a match score of 53-17 Straight from the restart, Tom Gray reclaimed the ball, sliced through the defence at pace and slipped the ball to Waddingham for another Chinnor try. Old Reds then pressurised the Chinnor line for a bonus point try. Chinnor had to dig deep to resist them and managed to turn over the ball 30 metres from their line. Stoop swooped and sprinted to the posts for the final try of the afternoon. Cathcart again converted to make the final score 67-17 to Chinnor.

Old Redcliffians found it difficult to deal with the pace of the Chinnor attack but conjured up three good tries with the last the pick of them. They scrapped well all day.

Chinnor had too many tools in the locker for their visitors. Solid at set piece, open side Alex Waddingham had a fine match and stood out with his tough tackling and great support of the backs. All of the backs played well, with the young Gray looking well settled on the left wing.

Scorers:
Chinnor: Seymour T; Gray T; Colver T; Gilbert 2T; Goode; Waddingham 2T; Mowbray T: Stoop T; Cathcart 7C; PG
Old Redcliffians: Thompson 2T; Owen T: Hall C;

Chinnor team:
Colver, Seymour (Williams 46), Goode, Stoop, Gray, Cathcart, Jones, Winpenny, Tattersall (Whelan 60), Pickett , Mowbray, Smith, Jackman (Harrison 56), Waddingham, Gilbert
Replacements: Whelan, Harrison, Williams