September was the last time Chinnor III’s met with their rivals and the outcome was not good. They lost in their own backyard. Suffice to say they were keen to do the same back to them.

With John Down and Mark Bradburn unavailable, (and the ever missing Rob Nichols), Chinnor did well to field a strong team. The game started off well with some strong play from both sides and solid defence from Chinnor’s pack. Henley didn’t seem to like this and as a result both their props took their handbags out, which our Captain, George White, kindly put away for them.

Henley put the first points on the board after Chinnor’s ill-discipline in their own 22. 3-0 to the home side.
It wasn’t long after when Chinnor put some good phases together and earned themselves a penalty. The punishable 3 points was slotted by Guy Woodeson bring the scores to 3-3.

Chinnor didn’t take their foot off the pedal and were back in Henley’s half trying to sneak one over the line. Henley’s defensive was strong so at this early stage Guy Woodeson decided to slot a further 3 points over with a fantastically executed drop goal making the scores 3-6 in Chinnor’s favour.

Henley still hadn’t put their handbags fully away so Will Taylor and Dane White made sure they were firmly away this time. Not long after, Chinnor got a penalty in front of the posts. This time, however, they felt more confident in getting the ball across the line so they went for a line out in the corner. Chinnor’s lineouts in recent weeks were certainly getting better, so all they needed was it all to click to ensure they had a good run at a try. Up went Lewis Ramadan who caught a perfectly straight throw from hooker, George White, followed by a great shove by the Chinnor pack which resulted in Tom White scoring a great team try.

Just before half time, ex-footballer Pete Way got injured yet again, and was replaced by Josh Culbert. Due to Guy Woodeson failing to get the additional 2 points at the try, the score at the half-time mark was 3-11 to Chinnor.

Unsurprisingly, Dane White had to be taken off due to his antics the night before (again), along with George Culbert. They were replaced by retuning Ben Griffiths, and newbie Adam Draper. Both proved to be great assets in the 2nd half where Chinnor had to put in some hard defensive to stop Henley crossing over the line. This proved rewarding as Guy Woodeson yet again, slotted over another 3 points from a penalty making the scores a comfortable 14-3 with approximately 15 mins to go. Jeff Cole should have been in at the corner for another great team try, but he selflessly passed it to Josh Culbert and with a combination of a bad pass and bad hands resulted in the ball fumbling to the ground. No try.

Not long after George Hope got sin binned for being off his feet in a ruck situation and Chinnor were left with 14 men with him only returning with a few minutes left to play. This was Henley’s chance to step it up a gear and make one last ditch effort to come from behind and steal the win. Their first unconverted try brought the scores to 8-14, to which Jayson Abbott responded with a thundering hit on their fullback making up for several dropped balls throughout the game. The games was closing in and all Henley needed was a converted try to steal the win. George Hope was now back on the field for the final 2 mins, and every Chinnor man was defending as hard as they could, until… The last play of the game Henley went over and scored the vital 5 points they needed to have a shot at the sticks.

Every Chinnor man ran out to the kicker but none could get there in time so they watched the ball fly over their heads and past the uprights securing the victory for Chinnor. Guy Woodeson was so delighted he punched the ground.

Henley 13 Chinnor 14.

Man of the Match – Lewis Ramadan
Mare of the Match – Dane White

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