Saturday the 10th of October saw an undefeated Maidenhead visit Kingsey Road to face Chinnor Wildboys, who themselves had been beaten heavily by Bracknell just a week earlier.
Chinnor knew that if they had any aspirations of finishing towards the top end of the table then this was a much needed victory against an ever strong opposition.
Chinnor had a strong side out, but were struggling to field a dedicated 9 and 10, thankfully Tom Hook and Nicholas Harrison stepped up to play out of position, showing the true team spirit embedded within the Chinnor IIIs.
Maidenhead were the first to put points on the board, as usual the Wildboys gave away a silly penalty allowing their opposition a simple 3 points. From the restart Chinnor responded well, as soon as they were back in possession, a few simple phases were rewarded with Adam Draper touching down under the posts. The resulting conversion was slotted over by Tom Hook to put Chinnor 7-3 up.
As Maidenhead restarted, the ball was picked from the air by George Hope and the Wildboys set to their phases of play again. The lineouts were looking a vast improvement on the week prior and the scrummages were strong, this allowed the backs a perfect playing platform and before long Guy Hackshaw was touching down putting Chinnor 12-3 in the lead.
The pattern of the game continued, Chinnor were looking strong in all areas of play and as the dominance grew, so did the score line, with the ever impressive Adam Draper scoring his second of the game. The conversion was unfortunately missed, leaving the score line at 17-3. At this point Jon Goodson had to leave the game and go to see a man about a cow. He was replaced by the inform Ben Wilkinson.
Maidenhead responded well from the restart, they pinned the Wildboys back with some impressive kicking. When Chinnor gave away a penalty the resulting kick to touch saw a well drilled lineout from the Maidenhead pack. They mauled the ball over the line in clinical fashion and although skipper George White believed he had held the ball up, the Try was awarded and in turn the conversion was scored, closing the score to 17-10.
It was Chinnor who put the next points on the board, with some strong forward play seeing George Hope peel away and touch down for Chinnor’s 4th try of the game, putting Chinnor 12 points in the lead just before half time. However Maidenhead did not let their heads drop and were determined to get over the line before the half time whistle. It was almost a carbon copy of their first try. A well drilled lineout saw them march over the line, this time it was Tom White who believed he had held the ball up but nonetheless it was awarded and in turn converted. As the game went into half time the score was 22 – 17 in favour of the Wildboys.
The second half was set to be a spectacle to watch, Maidenhead had their tails up after a score just before the half and Chinnor were playing some of their best rugby of the season. For some reason though the spectacle did not quite materialise and in fact there was an extremely patchy game consisting mainly of scrums and lineouts. Chinnor though kept their heads and were soon scoring again with Adam Draper sealing off his hat trick of tries, Tom Hook then converted to put the score at 29-17.
Maidenhead continued to battle hard under the circumstances of the stop-start game. Their perseverance soon paid off as they were awarded a penalty try because Chinnor were failing to drop 10 from the previous penalties, closing the score 29-22 it was then converted to make the score 29-24.
The game continued in a similar this fashion and at some stages it seemed as if the Wildboys may throw the game away for conceding too many penalties, whether attacking or defending. Nonetheless Chinnor kept their heads and were soon scoring again with some simple phases seeing full back Guy Hackshaw claiming his second of the game putting the final score at 34-24.
It was another good victory for the Wildboys and it sees them level on points with Maidenhead in 2nd position. Man and Mare of the matches were equally hard decisions to make this week as it was an outstanding team performance, however the man of the match award went to Nicholas Harrison for his solid performance at fly half. Mare of the match unfairly went to Guy Hackshaw who had a great performance and scored two tries.

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Man of the match: Nicholas Harrison
Mare of the match: Guy Hackshaw
Tries: A.Draper (3), G.Hackshaw (2), G.Hope,
Convs: T.Hook (2)