Saturday the 12th of September saw the Chinnor Wildboys take to the field for the first time of the new season. The whole team were determined to pick up from where they left off at the end of the last season and to set the standard for the forthcoming season with a bang. The addition of Sam Ludgate and Pieter Nell and the return of Elliot Bevan meant the Wildboys looked stronger than ever on their first outing.
Witney have managed to come out on top every time when playing Chinnor for the past few season and the games never fail to disappoint. Saturday the 12th saw a changing of the tide, with Chinnor’s dominance coming to the fore within the first 10 minutes. A well drilled lineout saw the Wildboy’s pack drive the ball over the line, however Tom White forgot to put the ball down and it was subsequently held up by the Witney defence. The resulting scrummage saw the ball find the backs and a powerful run from Adam Draper saw him shrug off three defenders and touch down under the posts to put Chinnor 5 points ahead. The resulting conversion was struck over with ease from Hooker Bevan.
Witney fought back after the restart, but any attacks were quickly snuffed out by Chinnor’s defence. Big tackles were put in all over the park, notably from Dane White, who subsequently set up the next try for George Hope. Dane held on to the ball well and a delightful offload saw Hopey smash his way to the line and place down directly under the posts. Another simple conversion for Bevan saw the score at 14- 0 at half time.
Dominance continued into the second half for Chinnor, the forwards were dominating at set pieces and break downs and giving some good clean ball to the backs, who were in turn out playing the opposition, seeing Draper touch down for another try, of which the conversion was missed. This put the Wildboys 19 points up.
Witney did not give up and continued to battle on, a few strong runs down their flanks saw strong tackles from James Way, an outstanding try saving tackle from Draper and an intelligent interception from George Culbert, keeping Witney with 0 on the score board.
After a funny five minutes in which Chinnor looked rushed, they slowed the game down and a beautifully worked lineout saw Elliot Bevan touch down in the corner, the try scorer then converted to make the score 26-0. The subsequent lineout saw the ball picked out the sky from William Taylor, passed through the hands of the other members of the back row and into the hands of Jayson Abbot who made a strong run and a unselfish offload gifted Draper with his third try of the game. This in turn was converted again by Bevan making the final score 33-0 to Chinnor.
Outstanding performances all over the pitch, most notably from Adam Draper and Dan White helped Chinnor to triumph over a team that had been a thorn in their side over the past few seasons. The final score was everything Captain George White has asked for and was the perfect start, setting the standard for the rest of the season.
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Man of the match : Dane White
Mare of the match: Guy Hackshaw
Tries: A.Draper (3), G.Hope, E.Bevan
Convs: E.Bevan (4)