CHINNOR produced a masterclass in the rain for 65 minutes to make it back-to-back bonus-point victories.

Tries from Max Clementson (2), Fred Tuilagi, Cameron Terry, Ryan Crowley and Conor Brockschmidt helped to secure a 34-28 win at Kingsey Road.

The hosts were dominant for more than an hour as they controlled the game in torrential rain to lead 29-0.

But Chinnor let their foot off the gas and down to 14 men after Keston Lines’ red card, Blackheath hit back to take home two bonus points thanks to four tries in the final 14 minutes.

The victory helps us up to fourth in the fledgling National League 1 table and back-to-back victories gives the side a platform as they will look for further improvement at Caldy next weekend.

With skipper Caolan Ryan sidelined with a hamstring injury, Nick Smith switched to fly-half and took over the captain’s armband, with Kieran Goss moving to full-back.

Blindside flanker Andy Berry was handed his first start since rejoining to the Club, while winger Dean Hammond returned after recovering from illness.

On the bench, centre George Grose was recalled to the matchday squad and fly-half Bader Pretorius – who joined this week on loan from Jersey Reds – was set for his debut.

For the first time this season we had rain on a matchday which only intensified further as we approached kick-off, with a grey, damp and windy afternoon setting up a big day for the packs. Perhaps Blackheath had the forecast in mind when selecting their squad, naming four forwards on the bench.

The warm-up was evident that it would be a tricky day with the ball like a bar of soap and this was evident in a game which saw a number of knock-ons, handling errors and wayward lineouts. Both sides were guilty of the above, but can be cut some slack as the conditions were absolutely horrendous.

It was important to win the early territorial battle and Chinnor succeeded in doing so. James Bourton’s early penalty sailed just wide, but the home side’s forwards were on top.

After winning a scrum against the head, we kicked for the corner and when Blackheath were penalised at the ensuing driving maul, Tuilagi forced his way over following Luke Carter’s quick tap penalty – Bourton adding the extras to make it 7-0 after 13 minutes.

We soon doubled our lead through another one of our back rows as Clementson drove over following a number of pick and goes. Bourton was again on target with the conversion for a 14-0 lead.

Blackheath were struggling to get out of their own half, but we were unable to make our territory count further as the conditions led to handling errors.

In a game dominated by the forwards, Goss - who was exceptional under the high ball all game - came to life from full-back on 33 minutes when he danced past two players and sprinted clear on half-way only to be tackled into touch.

However, another one of our backs in Smith created our third try just before the break. Just like he did a week previously, he collected his own up and under kick after a bounce got the better of a Blackheath man and raced clear. Just when he was caught, an offload found Berry who in turn fed Clementson for his second try of the game. It went unconverted, but Chinnor were good value for their 19-point lead at half-time.

The hosts continued to have the upper hand after the break and Hammond scampered over on 42 minutes, only for it to be disallowed as Terry’s long pass out to the left was adjudged to have gone forward.

We didn’t have to wait long for our bonus-point try, though, and it was the latter who scored it. Blackheath cleared deep into our half, but we ran back at our visitors and Carter scampered through a gap and fed Clementson. The openside flanker looked certain to score his hat-trick only to be stopped short, but hooker Terry picked up and drove over.

Our dominance up front continued and Sam Yawayawa was stopped just short, but our fifth try arrived on the hour when we played out immediately from a scrum virtually under the posts and Carter’s long pass found Crowley who dived over out wide.

Chinnor now led by 29 unanswered points, but we were unable to hammer home our dominance further.

Blackheath responded well to get on the scoreboard through Tom Stradwick’s 66th minute try and it gave the visitors a lift.

We perhaps took our foot off the gas, but with ten minutes to go we found ourselves down to 14 men for the rest of the game as Lines was shown a red card for foul play.

Blackheath took full advantage of having an extra man as Harry Fry forced his way over to further cut our lead to 15 points.

A swift Chinnor attack resulted in our sixth try of the game as a fine offload sent lock Brockschmidt charging over to make it 34-14.

That was scored with only three minutes to go, yet that was more than enough time for Blackheath’s Dan Hiscocks and Marcus Kershaw to go over as the visitors picked up two bonus points on what had been looking like a difficult day for them after 65 minutes.

From a Chinnor perspective, there are lessons to be learnt from the final quarter of an hour, but back-to-back bonus-point victories mean we head to Caldy with confidence.

Chinnor: Goss, Crowley, Bourton, Yawayawa, Hammond, Smith, Carter, Tonga’uiha, Terry, Hardwick, W Ryan, Brockschmidt, Berry, Clementson, Tuilagi.
Reps: Lines, Fleckney, Lomas, Pretorius, Grose.

Blackheath: Hennessey, Packman, Lloyd, Newey, Kershaw, Evans, Hiscocks, Brown, Walliker, Collins, Stradwick, Taylor, McGeekie, Owen, Leonard.
Reps: Fry, North, Ure, Claxton, Meeks.