Exmouth has always been a bit of a bogey game for Chinnor over the years and given what has been happening during the close season and pre-seasons games many were expecting to come away with little to nothing from the game. But having had a fantastic summer in the UK this year many were expecting a nice day in the sun by the seaside. Well how wrong could they be; on both fronts!

First, let's deal with the rain - there was lots of it and it just kept coming down all the way through the game. It did brighten up a little after the game was finished, so those who couldn't get into the clubhouse for a beer didn't get wet, but during the game the weather was appalling and its no surprise that neither team managed to put it "all together" during the 80 minutes.

Chinnor expected Exmouth to come out all guns blazing as this was their first game ever in National 2 and for the first few minutes it was clear that the Exmouth pack would potentially be a problem in the wet and wind. Chinnor stuck to their game plan well and slowly started to gain parity between the packs. When the ball eventually made it to the backs, it was clear that Chinnor were the more incisive team and had the weather been better tries would have come.

Chinnor's control and discipline was the difference between the two sides in the end with James Cathcart slotting 3 penalties over during the game compared to 1 from Exmouth.

The new scrum laws appeared to be applied on a pretty even basis and the put in seemed much straighter than in recent seasons. There was one scrum where the ball just seemed to stop in the middle of the tunnel for a few seconds and it was almost as though no-one in both of the front-rows really knew what to do.

There were a couple of impressive performances from new Chinnor players. Oskar Hirkskyj-Douglas (No 8) is going to be one heck of a player on a pitch that doesn't have 3 inches of water on it - he made a number of great breaks and his work-rate was excellent. At 6 Andrew Tibbetts also impressed with an all round performance which shows there is much to be excited about for the rest of the season.

So after all the rubbish that has happened over the recent weeks it is with some relief and surprise that Chinnor came away with 4 points from this one. The victory was as much to do with Chinnor controlling the game as it was the weather.

All in all this was a game that wont last long in the memory of those faithful Chinnor supporters who made the journey to the home of the Cockles.