Hoping to continue on their winning ways, the IV’s travelled to High Wycombe this week to face their III team. Ever wary Chinnor soon realised that their opponents were stronger than their league position suggested. The visitors changed gear accordingly and the game was on.

New faces this week included Barney “Rubble” Hoskins open side, and Josh “Benny” Hill on the bench. With Rupert “Biggin” Hill returning once more, the side was developing quite a landscape.

The opening exchanges saw the home side ready to run, chip and make the most of any chink in Chinnor’s armour. With a strong back line on the form of Gavin “Hyphenated” Williams, James “Theophilus P. Wildebeest” and Pete “Shakespeare” McDermott the chain mail held firm.

Chinnor were the first to break through when a mistake by Wycombe allowed the ever present Mike “Boo” Bailey to steal the ball in a tackle, and slip a good pass to fly half Rob “Andrew” Atkin. “Andrew” combined well with his two centres, Jamie “Um Betty” Spencer and Chris “Teflon” Williams to give Gavin “Hyphenated” Williams quick ball and some space to manoeuvre inside his own 22, then run the length of the pitch for an excellent opening score. 0-7.

Chinnor smelled a kill now, but Wycombe were not lying down. The backs started to put together a succession of good moves, only to see the last pass go awry. Not to be outdone by the high sails of “Andrew’s” dummies, Gordon “Voldemort” Fennell gave his own demonstration from the back of a lineout, got a luke warm reception, then proceeded to run through his man in any case.

The first 40 minutes ended with no more scores. Wycombe made a few changes and game proceeded. Falling victim to a few decisions, Chinnor found themselves pegged back defending a lineout inside their 22.

Gaining possession the ball was passed back only to have the clearing kick charged down and Wycombe go into double points this season, 5-7.

Chinnor struck back straight away with more combined work from the pack. Nathan “Webb” Ellis making the difficult move from wing to second row, wasn’t so pretty now but dropped the average age of the second row to below 40 for the first time in 6 years.
Working in tandem with the stealth like precision of Richard “Jabba the” Hutt, and first time hooker, Kieron “Humbug” Hall saw a lot of turnovers, resulting in fast attacking moves and a penalty 10m out. “Andrew” made no mistake to increase Chinnor’s lead, 5-10.

Then, in what seemed like minutes later, Chinnor were again pinned back in their 22. Again they secured the ball, and passed back only to have the kick charged down again. 10-10.

The IV’s then seemed to go through their own form of 1920’s depression. But not for long, as looking towards their very own numbers man, Matt “Credit Crunch” Locke, they took the game back to Wycombe with interest.
Another attack, another penalty and a lineout inside Wycombes 22. An inch perfect throw by “Credit Crunch” was taken by “Jabba the” Hutt, the machine that is the IV’s rolling maul formed and headed for the line. Yards out progress was halted, then spurting out “Voldemort” Fennel touched down to take the lead once more.
A superb conversion by “Andrew” was adjudged out, but Chinnor were ahead.

5 minutes to go Chinnor seemed to forget they were in the lead. Miss understanding came between the forwards and the backs, with the forwards dampening the champagne rugby the backs wanted to play.
The final few minutes heralded several announcements that, in no uncertain terms the ball should be cleared to touch. Eventually this was heeded and the whistle went.

A desperate victory left Chinnor on a high in Wycombe. The view from front row virgin, “Humbug” was described as ‘confined’. “Voldemort” was so impressed with “Taff” Ewers, he was brought on twice.
The mood of the game had swung from high, depression, high again, then finally romantic, as James “Theophilus P. Wildebeest” was seen to touch hands with his partner across a crowded clubhouse, during a intimate meal after the game.

Travelling back, saw an interesting encounter at the Shepherds Crook, a popular break with many clubs. The IV’s would like to thank one of the “original’s “ for not playing football all those years ago.
Chinnor IV’s host Winslow this week.