In truth, Chinnor never really got going in an error-strewn National League 1 encounter where missed opportunities and a high penalty count proved costly.

Mowden, though, were good value for the victory with their expansive attacking rugby causing problems, while they withstood our late attempt to snatch victory.

Director of Rugby, Richard Thorpe made six changes, three positional, from the side which drew 27-all with Caldy last weekend.

Lock Ben Glynn returned to the pack following his honeymoon, allowing Willie Ryan to move into the back row.

Fly-half Bader Pretorius was handed his first start since joining on loan from Jersey Reds, meaning Nick Smith switched to full-back and Kieran Goss to the right wing. George Grose also came in at outside centre in place of James Bourton.

Chinnor made a good start to lead 10-0 after nine minutes.

A Pretorius penalty got us off the mark, before Ryan Crowley ran a fine line off a lineout to storm through a gap and over the whitewash for his fourth league try in as many games.

It all looked to be going swimmingly, but Mowden had already shown glimpses of what they could do and started to get a foothold.

The errors were already mounting against Chinnor and Seals got the visitors up and running through a 15th-minute penalty.

And by the 20-minute mark they were deservedly level as centre Garry Law forced his way over from close range and Seals added the extras in front of the posts.

Mowden now had their tails up and another ruck penalty allowed them to kick their way back into our half. Continuing to stretch and move us around, they looked set to score their second try, but settled for three more points from the boot of Seals to lead 13-10 after 25 minutes.

We needed to respond and looked to be doing so when we mauled our way to within 10m and Soane Tonga’uiha went close to forcing his way over. However, Luke Carter’s pass out of a ruck lacked accuracy and invertedly set up a counter attack. Full-back Liam Checksfield raced down the right, but good work on the floor forced a penalty.

However, we were penalised at the resulting scrum and Seals had another opportunity to further extend the visitors’ lead, but his penalty attempt slipped wide.

Both sides were guilty of making mistakes and when Checksfield kicked out on the full, Chinnor were given a platform to attack the final few minutes of the half.

We spread the ball wide from the lineout and Willie Ryan went close to forcing his way over. Mowden were penalised on the floor which resulted in Dave Fisher being sent to the sin bin and we made the extra man count at the resulting lineout as, while a maul looked to be forming, No 8 Fred Tuilagi grabbed the ball, burst through a gap and dived over. Pretorius was unable to convert from out wide, but we led by two points at the break.

Extending a lead in what had been a relatively open game was a must at the start of the second half and we did so on 45 minutes. Hooker Cameron Terry burst down the right, drew in a couple of players, and fed scrum-half Carter for an unconverted try.

We now led 20-13, but again Mowden came back at us.

Scrum-half Euan McKirdy had already impressed off the bench and he broke the gain line as the visitors looked to respond. They then played out quickly from a lineout and great hands between Seals and Law saw McKirdy scamper over under the posts. Seals easily converted to again level the match with 56 minutes played.

As the contest entered the final ten minutes, Chinnor seemed to be the most likely, but they were unable to make the most of their opportunities, while Mowden defended manfully.

And with a couple of minutes to go the visitors took their chance. Having been driven ten metres back off a lineout, we looked to be on the ropes and Grose made a brilliant tackle to prevent a certain try. Advantage had already been played, though, and Seals stepped up to slot what proved to be the match-winning penalty.

There was still just about enough time for us to reply, but Mowden did well to withstand our late push.

Chinnor: N Smith, Goss, Grose, Yawayawa, Crowley, Pretorius, Carter, Tonga’uiha, Terry, Hardwick, Glynn, Brockschmidt, W Ryan, Clementson, Tuilagi.
Reps: Chilvers, van Vuuren, Lomas, Manning, Bourton.

Darlington Mowden Park: Checksfield, MacKenzie, Frankland, Law, Walker, Seals, Broadhead, Barron, Guest, Crickmay, Maguire, Fisher, Lockwood, Jones, Craggs.
Reps: Appleby, Shannon, Marshall, Passman, McKirdy.