With several players injured or unavailable, Chinnor were forced to make some changes. Centre pairing Stoop and Goode were replaced by Trevor Powell and Leo Fielding with Gray coming in on the right wing. Skipper Joe Winpenny was replaced by Andy Berry and with Joe Kava’s long term injury, Liam Gilbert took over at No 8 with Adam Hastings taking the blind side berth.

The game nearly got off to a perfect start for Chinnor, when Henley were penalised with their first touch of the ball. Cathcart’s attempted penalty goal from wide out near the half way line hit an upright and rebounded into play. Chinnor reacted much quicker than the Henley defenders to retrieve the ball to batter the home try line. They eventually lost the ball from a speculative grubber kick to allow a relieving boot for Henley.

Comben for Hawks and Cathcart traded penalties early on in the half for 3-3 by the 11th minute. Henley then spent most of the half in Chinnor territory in sustained rapid attack whilst the visitors from Thame showed their durability in defence managing to turnover ball every time Henley looked likely to score. They even had the cheek to go ahead 6-3 in the match in the 30th minute with a Cathcart penalty. The dam broke when Henley’s Shaylor nipped around the blind side for Henley’s first try when real time played on everyone’s watches, bar the referee’s, was 44 minutes.

At half time, Chinnor were 8-6 down but with a credible defensive effort against the league leaders and a growing belief that their pack were gaining some ascendancy.

The second half was a different affair with Henley, still minimally kicking the ball, starting to use their backs rather than their forwards to go forward. This brought four tries and a comfortable victory in the end. It began four minutes into the half with Briggs going over for Henley. From the restart, Sawyer was blocked and Cathcart stepped up to reduce the deficit to 13-9. In the 58th minute, Henley’s Ali James, benefitting from a forward pass, took the ball up strongly through the middle to release Wells for a try. Wells repeated the trick in the 73rd minute and with Comben’s first conversion of the day, were stretching out 25-9. Comben then achieved a try and conversion on the 84th minute to see Henley home 32-9.

Henley played a relentless brand of rugby, probably inspired by their heavy defeat of the week before, and showed why they are clear promotion favourites. Their refusal to kick the ball and recycle rapidly was laudable and their centres created opportunities well.

Chinnor’s fortune’s changed with the yellow card given to the highly influential Andy Berry just before half time. During his absence, Henley scored 10 points and changed the dynamic of the game. Their first try of the second half came when replacement Chinnor prop Whelan was judged to have gone down at his first engagement. A more accurate review would have shown a dropped shoulder from his opposite number suckering the ref. Chinnor did have a number of chances which they messed up at the final pass or kick. Their pack performed well and they had a number of notable scrum successes. However, to keep in the contest for most of the match showed that Chinnor can live at this level. Henley are destined for higher things.

Scorers:
Henley: Shaylor T; Briggs T; Wells 2T: Comben T, 2C, PG
Chinnor: Cathcart 3PG

Chinnor team:
Colver, Gray, Fielding, Powell (Mountford 48), Corpe, Cathcart, Hopwood (Jones 62), Berry (Stock 62), Holyland (Whelan 62), Pickett, Mowbray, Smith, Sawyer, Hastings (Harrison 73), Gilbert
Replacements: Whelan, Stock, Harrison, Jones, Mountford