Travelling to Henley can provide visitors from Chinnor with a number of emotions, among them envy (how did they fund that all weather pitch & get the grandstand?) and pleasure (it really is a beautiful setting). The Chinnor under 13 A Team also arrived, we suspect, with a degree of foreboding caused by past experience – could Henley be beaten?
The match started well, with Chinnor camped on the opposition try line for some considerable time and spectators and players alike settling into a degree of comfort. It was unfortunate, therefore, that Henley managed to run in three tries past Chinnor’s weak tackling. As the first half progressed, it became clear that the Chinnor forwards hadn't really got into gear; yes, they were trying to shove uphill but were consistently being driven off the ball. Henley exploited the reluctance of Chinnor’s pack to get stuck in to the ruck, and spectators had to admit that their use of second phase ball was a joy to behold. The first half ended with Chinnor 19 points down. “Doctor” (“I'm very proud of how my bandage on Tom's thumb has stayed on”) Hook was forced to shake them all up considerably.

The Doc's words seemed to have done the job and Chinnor showed a strong start in the second half. Henley decided to give their development players a “bit of a run out to get some experience” but they hadn't counted on Tom S’s return to the pitch (the Doc's thumb bandage still intact). Three Strathdee tries later, there was a flurry of Henley re-substitutions which saw their more experienced players re-enter the fray, their development players presumably having had enough of a “run out” in the few minutes they were on the pitch as the prospect of a defeat loomed.

Before too long, though, Chinnor seemed to forget Doc's words of advice as they scrabbled around trying to get the ball & do anything useful with it. Iestyn and Finn fought manfully against the rising tide, but in the end Henley ran in two more tries and the Chinnor heads went down. They were tired, beaten & bruised. Final score 29 – 17.

Message of the day: Henley is not unbeatable. If Chinnor brings teamwork and concentration to their next encounter in the Cup, Henley could lose their crown.