The blustery, cold, wet weather last Saturday, the 13th, did neither side any favours in this league clash between Chinnor (Oxen) Vets XV and Reading Abbey 3rd’s. The ground conditions ensuring that this was never going to be a pretty match, one for the true rugby fan as the Oxens progress continues.

The game was a close affair with both teams slogging it out in the mud for the first half an hour, apart from a missed penalty from Reading neither side came close to breaking the deadlock. Then, with 5 minutes to go to half time Chinnor were awarded a penalty 5 yards from Abbey line, a quick (ish) tap from Jeremy Philpott allowed the scrum half to dart under the on-rushing defence to dot the ball down for the first score of the match leaving the half time score 5 – 0 to the Veterans from Chinnor RFC.

Shortly after the re-start Abbey used the blindside effectively and broke the Chinnor defence, following several breaks from the back of the scrum, Abbey kicking their conversion to make the score 5 – 7 to Reading Abbey with half an hour remaining.

Shortly after the Reading Abbey score, Chinnor drove their way back in to the Reading Abbey half, forced a penalty for Dave Wells to step up and slot it home for a further 3 points, making the score 8 – 7 with 20 – 25 minutes remaining.

A welcome return for his first game of this season enabled John Vaughan to give the referee the benefit of his experience during the second half. Counting 5 scrum halves in the back line Chinnor were never without a voice on the pitch and, in the end, the vast experience and the great team spirit of this Chinnor side saw them close the game out with an 8-7 win to jump from 7th to 4th in the league with 3 games in hand.

With a couple of weeks off over Christmas, lets hope the Oxen can carry the momentum in to 2009.

Chinnor RFC Oxen (Vets) XV: Mike Bailey, Alan Beveridge, Steve Bridges, Tim DeGlanville, Paul Ewens, Neal Gilbert, Josh Hill, Tony Howells, Doug Humphries, Craig Jones, Jeremy March, Jeremy Philpott, Dave Ratcliffe, Stuart Reynolds, John Sellars, Craig Smith, Andre van der Mewe, John Vaughan, Mike Wiltshire, Dave Wells, Tim Wright