By John Vaughan

CHINNOR Vets cruised into the Oxfordshire Floodlit Cup final with a bruising, hard-fought, but ultimately comfortable victory against old rivals Henley.

With a strong wind and slope in their favour in the second half, Chinnor’s experienced half-backs gave a masterclass in course management as they continually pinned the visitors deep into their territory with skilful and accurate kicking. This kept any potential fightback at arm’s length and gave a superb platform to score a couple of tries to secure victory.

A few changes from the star studded side of earlier rounds showed the strength in depth of the Chinnor squad. Stocky had been struck with a large bolt of conscience and therefore refused to take the field. During his time at Henley his contract was so ludicrously generous that it had bankrolled the down payment of his new marital abode. With his appearances on the pitch during these high rolling years about as frequent as Hailey’s Comet his value per match has been compared to Paul Pogba so it was with this in mind that he withdrew, in order avoid biting the hand that feeds. And they say that the essence of Rugby has changed since the onset of Professionalism!

Frank has been so depressed since the finale of Peaky Blinders that he’s not been seen since and with Fatz nursing a knee injury it was inevitable that his centre partner, Ox, would also come out in sympathy with a late call to withdraw.

But these minor inconveniences are what inspirational skipper Warner thrives on. He believes his men perform all the better in adversity. Whether Warner will be available to lead his adoring troops out in the final is sadly questionable. Warner announced post match that he is attending Ladies Day at Aintree on Friday , proudly mooring his superyacht in the Albert Dock for the duration of the meet. If he does make it back on time he’ll have no doubt added to his tattoo collection, be sporting a very tight suit and have a rather disturbing glowing orange complexion.

More adversity was experienced within minutes of KO when the pack needed a double reshuffle in double quick time. Wiltshire went down with a very painful hamstring, and yes he could find it. Followed very quickly by Luke coming off with another painful blow, showing that no matter how fit you are it won’t prevent the pain of a big dig in the ribs.

However, the boys overcame these blows with blows themselves but this time on the scoreboard. Playing against the conditions an early score from Ludders was a superb marker, showing the unique combination of his huge engine and power he surged through several would be tacklers and sprinted 30 metres to score.

This score was quickly doubled when a dangerous attack from Trev and Nobby took play deep inside Henley territory. Henley did manage to turnover the ball, but got in a muddle trying to clear. Grizza showed his uncanny ability to read play and predict where the ball was going and appeared in the deadball area to gratefully receive an errant pass to dot down.

This was the period when the game was won, with set-piece dominant Chinnor managing to nullify the advantage of the elements. More good work from the forwards led to a position where Greg could unleash his trademark show and go to scoot though and score. Skindog was successful in his crossbar challenge with the conversion attempt, but 15-0 still was a very strong position. Henley hit back just before half time and narrowed the lead to 15-7.

With the wind now at their backs the boys played with added flair and entertained the large crowd with skills to burn. Another lightning break from Skindog from deep in his 22 saw him streak well past halfway, but as he looked around for support he was rather bemused to see nobody within 30 metres. Unperturbed Skindog utilized his Ju Jitsu skills to keep the defenders at bay as he trod water and waited and waited for the cavalry to arrive. Ludders was first on the scene which should really be an embarrassment to the backs, but they were to have their say when the ball was moved to the opposite wing in thrilling fashion. Staints then executed a switch with Gilbert of such brilliance that he was rooted to the spot as if he was Michelangelo admiring the finished Sistine chapel for the first time. Gilbert surged on beating 2 defenders before bringing out the play of the day with a no look out the back door special to the overlapping Grizza. Grizza then drew the fullback and gave the scoring pass to his winger to complete this try of the season contender. Unfortunately, the winger was the aforementioned Staints, who still frozen to the spot in some Zen like trance was not in position to take the pass and the ball trickled somewhat shamefully into touch. This vignette was Vets rugby encapsulated in a nutshell, brilliance and comedy arm in arm.

Not to be outdone, Conor having pirouetted 180 degrees unleashed a monumental kick from his own goal line which eventually ended up 3 metres from Henley’s line. Unfortunately, for Conor the referee decided that as he was playing advantage from an offside the prospect of a Chinnor attacking lineout from what must be the longest 50/22 in history was not sufficient. To add insult to injury, Conor was immediately yellow carded for a very tenuous team offence so off he scuttled in high dudgeon.

Chinnor managed to increase their lead in the last quarter from a Goodfellow penalty and then man-of-the-match Gilbert showing he’s not just flashy skills and an imperious line out operator but has power in his carries as he surged over and through the defence from a quickly taken penalty.

So a big finale to the season beckons with the cup final on April 27th, and with the influx to the team of much needed youth adding a real cutting edge it’s an occasion the boys will look forward to. With Chinnor great Matt Goode in their ranks, Banbury will be very tough adversaries - a Goodey/Fatz centre off would truly be clash of the titans. Something to savour before the merry men embark on their European adventure.