(Match report from Taunton website)

Taunton Titans will remain unbeaten at Hyde Park until the New Year as they battled to overcome a tough and resilient Chinnor side to win 20-15 last Saturday.

Despite always being a step ahead on the scoreboard the home side were made to work incredibly hard right until the final whistle, with the visitors almost snatching victory in the final seconds were it not for some outstanding defence.

Titans missed an early chance to take the lead when Forrester sliced a penalty kick wide after two minutes, but 11 minutes later Chinnor fly half William Mallet saw yellow under mounting pressure by the home team. Titans took full advantage to score in the 13th minute, with good build up play in the Chinnor twenty-two drawing in defenders and opening a gap for number 8 Dan Lee to touch down, Forrester converting.

Seconds after Millett returned to the action, Chinnor were once more down to 14 men as scrum half Frank Jones was sent to the sin bin. Once again the Titans needed no invitation to punish their visitors and went further ahead with a try by Toots Vakalutukali after 24 minutes, the Fijian back rower picking a lovely inside line off Gary Kingdom to score under the posts, 14-0.

Chinnor were in no mood to lie down however, and were off the mark just before half time when sustained attacks near the Titans line eventually saw centre Sam Angell go over.

Four minutes into the second session Titans prop Jake Woolmore was yellow carded in questionable fashion, but Chinnor were unable to make the most of the circumstances.

With 55 minutes gone mounting periods of attacking possession for Chinnor eventually told, and they narrowed the deficit to just four points at 14-10 with an unconverted try by winger Joseph Marston.

Titans sensed the mounting Chinnor confidence and countered with ten minutes of almost exclusive possession as they sought to stretch their lead.

The Chinnor defence was stubbornly resolute however, and the Titans had to settle with a 56th minute Forrester penalty conversion for their efforts, 17-10.

With the Chinnor fire dwindling the Titans then somehow put themselves in deep trouble when a harmless high kick was poorly fielded and winger Martson hacked through to score with 11 minutes remaining, 17-15.

With Chinnor now very much back in the fight, the Titans needed to draw on all their strength of character to stay in front of their opponents. After a huge barrage of attacks deep in the Chinnor twenty-two, and with a minute of normal time remaining, Titans won a penalty Forrester coolly slotted the kick to move 20-15 ahead.

It almost wasn’t enough, as Chinnor came roaring back in the final moments of injury time to camp on the Titans line. With the crowd gripped in nervous unison, Titans brilliantly turned over a Chinnor ruck and kicked clear to end the match to a huge cheer from their home supporters.