CHINNOR produced a scintillating first half performance before having to dig deep to earn an impressive bonus-point victory at previously unbeaten Birmingham Moseley.

Excuse the pun, but this National League 1 encounter proved to be a game of two halves in every sense.

Dominance in the set-piece gave our backs the licence to play and tries from James Bourton, Fred Tuilagi, Ryan Crowley and Caolan Ryan put us into a commanding 29-3 lead at the break.

The bonus-point victory was in the bag, but the game was not. Moseley have already shown this season that they can keep playing late into a match and they made us sweat.

The second half was error-strewn and lethargic in comparison with the hosts setting up a tense finish, but we held on to leave Billesley Common with five points.

Director of Rugby, Richard Thorpe made six changes – two positional – from the side which started against Cinderford last weekend.

Full-back Nick Smith was rewarded for his impressive try-scoring performance off the bench with his first league start for the Club. Cameron Terry and Crowley made their debuts at hooker and on the left wing respectively, while Sam Yawayawa was handed his first start since returning to the Club in the summer.

Chinnor started brightly and opened the scoring in just the fourth minute. Smith created it, superbly collecting his own up and under kick which took him up to Moseley’s 22. The full-back off-loaded to Alife North and we drove towards the line where Bourton dived over for his second try of the season. Captain Caolan Ryan converted in front of the posts to make it 7-0.

We had already laid a marker and the forwards dealt another early blow when Moseley were sent backwards at scrum-time and three more points were soon on the board when Caolan Ryan slotted a monster 50m penalty on ten minutes.

Our dominance continued from there and a Moseley error led to our second try of the game as Aquile Smith found himself under pressure after collecting a kick and his pass was intercepted by Tuilagi who strolled over for his first try for the Club. Caolan Ryan’s conversion attempt slipped just wide, but we led by 15 unanswered points after 16 minutes.

Moseley’s rare attacks had been the result of Chinnor errors and Smith stopped Kailus Hutchinson from storming over after the flanker had broken the gain line. Play continued and we were quickly penalised with Kieran Goss sent to the sin-bin for what looked to be a deliberate knock-on.

The hosts kicked to the corner, but were unable to make the most of the opportunity as the lineout was overthrown. Despite being down to 14, we then went on to extend our lead.

A mazy run and quick hands from Smith sent scrum-half Luke Carter into space and with so much room out wide he threw a long pass out for Crowley to dive over to mark his debut with a try. Caolan Ryan added the extras to make it 22-0 after 22 minutes.

Moseley got off the mark in the 25th minute when Jack Jolly slotted a penalty and they went close to scoring their first try of the game when Mason Tonks broke free from Smith and raced down the left, but Caolan Ryan made a fine try-saving tackle to put the winger into touch.

Our dominance continued as we approached half-time and the four-try bonus-point was secured when Caolan Ryan darted through a gap to touch down from close range for his first try of the Club on his 33rd appearance. Unfortunately, he injured himself in the process and Bourton took over the kicking duties to slot the conversion and make it 29-3 at the break.

Sadly, our skipper was unable to continue in the second half which saw Smith move to fly-half, Goss go to full-back and Oscar Heath come on to play on the left wing. Another change at half-time saw Keston Lines replace Soane Tonga’uiha at loosehead prop.

Losing Caolan to injury had an impact, but a combination of increasing errors and Moseley upping their intensity led to a very different second half.

Both sides were guilty of a lack of accuracy and errors, which led to a rather disjointed and stop-start opening 10-15 minutes to the second half.

But in that time Moseley did score their opening try when Sam Pointon cut through our defensive line and Tonks forced his way over out wide for an unconverted try.

We still posed a threat, especially on the counter, and one particular break nearly led to our fifth try when Carter hacked forward and the pacey Crowley collected the ball and sprinted down the right, but he was tackled with five metres to go and his offload did not quite come off. We looked to make our territory count as we kept that attack alive and Max Clementson was just stopped short as we were unable to find another score which probably would have put the game out of sight.

While the quality of the game had dropped, Moseley were now gaining the upper hand and the penalty count was rising against Chinnor. They punished us as Sam McNulty was driven over from a lineout, Jack Combes converting, to reduce the deficit to 14 points.

It was now getting a little edgy and with seven minutes to go it became extremely nervy when a quick tap and go from Combes led to Ratu Bulumakau crossing over under the sticks. Combes added the extras to make it 22-29.

The hosts, roared on by their supporters, now had their tails up, they sensed another late comeback, but somehow we stood firm. The boys defended manfully to keep Moseley out and there was relief in the Chinnor camp when time was up and Carter kicked into touch.

Birmingham Moseley: Benjamin, Smith, Bulumakau, Allsopp, Tonks, Pointon, Jolly, Foreman, Roach, Langley, Kiff, Butler, Hutchinson, Munro, Safe.
Reps: Priest, McNulty, Ajayi, Combes, Ma’asi-White.

Chinnor: N Smith, Goss, Bourton, Yawayawa, Crowley, C Ryan, Carter, Tonga’uiha, Terry, Hardwick, W Ryan, Brockschmidt, North, Clementson, Tuilagi.
Reps: Lines, Fleckney, Lomas, Heath, Davies.