Chinnor held on at the end to record a hard earned victory by 26-22 against Shelford, a team they had never played before.

With Sam Stoop unavailable, club stalwart Trevor Powell was drafted in to the inside centre position for Chinnor.

The first inklings of the presence of a powerful pack from the visitors occurred in the 14th minute when a lineout catch and drive resulted in a try from Shelford's Dane Grey. Chinnor's first score of the match came some 4 minutes later with an unusual try from prop Andy Berry. Powell ripped the ball in midfield and fed Corpe who chipped deep. The banana like bounce over the line led to a clearing fly hack from Shelford's full-back Alex Kelshall. The ball went straight into the hands of Berry standing out by the touchline. He pinned his ears back and raced in for Chinnor's first try. Cathcart's conversion put the home side 7-5 ahead.

From a lineout on the 27th minute, Powell took the ball up and from the resultant ruck, Cathcart delivered a neat inside pass for the marauding David Hughes to break 3 tackles in a sprint to the line. Cathcart's conversion put the Kingsey Road boys 14-5 ahead.

Chinnor went further ahead in the 33rd minute with a well worked try scored by Leo Fielding. A speculative kick downfield from Shelford was returned by Powell who neatly slipped Corpe on a run to the line. Hauled down short, Chinnor began a series of rucks close to the Shelford line and then moved the ball wide to the considerable overlap of Chinnor players to allow Fielding to canter around to the posts. Cathcart's conversion put Chinnor 21-5 ahead at half-time.

The half-time pep talk for the visitors from Cambridgeshire clearly had the desired results when, 5 minutes into the 2nd half, Gregerson scored Shelford's 2nd try after considerable pressure from the visiting pack. Shelford then repeated the trick in the 54th minute when Dane Grey scored his second try of the day after a series of punishing driving mauls. Fielding's dart down the left-hand touchline almost led to a Chinnor try but for a dropped ball. Chinnor kept the pressure on and a series of rucks near the Shelford corner saw the ball go wide to Powell who sashayed his way to the line for Chinnor's 4th try and a lead of 26-15.

Shelford came back with a vengeance and hammered continuously at a solid Chinnor defence. The dam eventually broke and Jackowski touched down for Shelford's bonus point try in the 73rd minute. Smith's conversion was the last scoring act of the match to leave the home side 26-22 victors.

This was an admirable and absorbing match with Chinnor producing some good attacking play in the first half and having to be extremely resolute in defence in the second half. Shelford forward play was of the highest order and their use of the driving maul particularly destructive. Chinnor did well to resist them particularly in the last 15 minutes. This was one of those rare matches in which there were no penalty goals. Cathcart's conversions proved crucial.

Chiwanga, Shelford’s left-winger, was always threatening, popping up all over the park but the Cambridgeshire side strength is clearly based upon their formidable pack. All the magic came from Chinnor with some fine attacking play but their gritty defence probably won the match for them with Evan Sawyer at the heart of the forward effort. Trevor Powell reminded the crowd of his uncanny ability to break the line and play others into promising positions. Leo Fielding caught the eye with some vital last man tackles and for some incisive and penetrating runs.

Scorers:

Chinnor: Berry T; Hughes T; Fielding T: Powell T; Cathcart 3C

Shelford: Grey 2T; Gregerson T; Jackowski T; Smith C

Team:

Colver, Fielding, Goode, Powell (Millet 68), Corpe, Cathcart, Hopwood, Winpenny, Holyland (Whelan 49), Berry (Pickett 49), Hughes (Harrison 34), Smith, Sawyer,Hastings (Vickers 60), Gilbert

Replacements: Whelan, Pickett,Vickers, Harrison,Millet