Chinnor 24, Rotherham Titans 26

CHINNOR suffered their first home defeat of the season as they were unable to break through a heroic defensive effort from Rotherham Titans.

It proved a tale of two halves at Kingsey Road as the Thame-based side were edged out in a bruising National League 1 battle.

Chinnor already had the four-try bonus-point in the bag at the break as they led 24-18 and they were good value for it as well, playing some brilliant and attractive rugby as Jason Worrall (2), Ofisa Treviranus and Sam Yawayawa all crossed.

But Titans, who had yet to win on the road this campaign, overturned the deficit within seven minutes of the second period and withstood everything Chinnor had to throw at them as the hosts were left with only two bonus points.

Director of rugby Matt Williams made six changes from the side which beat Cinderford last weekend.

Caolan Ryan, who impressed off the bench in Gloucestershire, came in for his first start of the season at full-back, while flanker Matt Marley replaced captain Carl Kirwan.

Yawayawa returned on the right wing, while centre Danny Barnes and scrum-half Jake Ashby also came back into the XV. Worrall, named captain in the absence of Kirwan, was moved to outside centre.

Chinnor took the lead on six minutes when former Samoa captain Treviranus was driven over for an unconverted try following a lineout, before Sam Hollingsworth’s penalty got Titans on the scoreboard.

The hosts were the better side and looked to have extended their advantage when Nick Selway crossed, but it was disallowed following a forward pass from Ben Thomas.

However, they soon made it 10-3. Another lineout proved effective and the ball was played to the blindside for Yawayawa to dive over in the corner for an unconverted try on 16 minutes.

Another Hollingsworth penalty kept the visitors in touch, but Chinnor continued to go on the attack.

And they deservedly extended their advantage to 11 points on 29 minutes when Worrall burst through, Laurence May converting.

An all-action end to the half ensued, with Titans taking a surprise lead, thanks to tries from Bacon and Connor Field, Hollingsworth converting the latter, within two minutes of each other.

But Chinnor were not finished and secured the four-try bonus-point just before the end of the first period when Worrall dived over for his second, May adding the extras, to make it 24-18.

Titans started the second half well and quickly overturned the deficit.

Chinnor had withstood a driving maul, but Hollingsworth’s cross-field kick was perfectly weighted for Bacon to collect and score an unconverted try in the corner.

The home side's error-count was beginning to rack up and Titans fly-half Hollingsworth slotted a penalty to make it 26-24 after 47 minutes.

With still more than half an hour left to play there was no need for concern, while many would have expected a continuation of the try-fest from the opening period.

But Chinnor were left repeatedly frustrated by a dogged and resolute Rotherham defence, while errors allowed the visitors to clear their lines.

The hosts were enjoying the majority of the possession and territory. With seconds remaining and within 15m, Chinnor were in a strong position to force an error and give May a shot of winning the match from the tee.

But it did not prove to be as the game finished with a knock-on and Rotherham celebrations.

Chinnor: C Ryan, Yawayawa, Worrall, Barnes, Hodson, May, Ashby, Filder, Selway, McNulty, Thomas, Gray, Treviranus, Marley, W Ryan.
Replacements: Southworth, Robinson, Ehizode, Manning, Laverick.
Rotherham Titans: Castledine, Robbins, Field, Bullough, Bacon, Hollingsworth, Dever, Williams, Newborn, Dennis, Preston-Routledge, Frost, Wilson, Laxton, Poole.
Replacements: Whitfield, Defelitto, North, Waddington, Bunting.