Chinnor U14 36 vs 10 Wallingford

Chinnor under 14s quickly returned to winning ways with a comfortable win against
Wallingford in the Oxfordshire cup on Sunday. Three tries in either half, the majority of
which were scored in a thrilling, free flowing manner, illustrated Chinnor’s desire to play an
exciting and expansive brand of rugby.
Unfortunately, the visitors were not able to raise a full complement of players. During the
week Chinnor had offered to lend Wallingford as many players as they needed to ensure
they had the full squad of 20. This offer was not accepted so we were in the rather
bewildering position where the game was mandated as a thirteen a side version. This
denied many of the Chinnor players game time and seemed to be in direct contravention of
the stated intention of the county’s inclusive principles. What can be said is all the boys who
graciously volunteered to play for Wallingford did so with great gusto and spirit. They all
played superbly well. In particular Joe G and George W tackled and competed ferociously,
Huw showed skill and bravery several times putting his body on the line in the face of the on
rushing pack, and Harvey was on a one man mission to prevent Alfie from scoring. Their one
on one battle against each other on the wing was full on, enthralling and finished honours
even. Bravo to all the boys involved and hopefully those from the organising committee
would feel somewhat chastened and embarrassed in suggesting the Chinnor players would
not try.
Chinnor began the match on the front foot and after several strong carries from the
forwards, where Guy B was particularly prominent, the ball was moved wide to Nathan who
outpaced the cover to score. The lead was extended on 15 minutes with a textbook try
when a superb midfield move saw Joseph V combine with Charlie, who took a sublime angle
to power through the defence and then accelerate past the cover to score under the posts
from 30 metres. Charlie converted 12-0.
Wallingford struck back with a well worked try and when a quick lineout caught out the home side out and they barged
over from close range. Chinnor attacked directly from the kick off and again good work from
the forwards saw Morgan pick and drive from a ruck 5 metres out to score for a half time
lead of 17-10.
Chinnor made a raft of changes for the second half but the pace only seemed to increase.
Wallingford were intent on playing a slow, set piece dominated game and continued to kick
away possession. This was meat and drink to Jimmy, Ben W and Alfie who launched many
thrilling counter attacks from deep. A good run from Jimmy saw him link with Nathan, who
again was too fast and elusive for the visitor’s defence and extended the lead to 22-10.
Charlie then scored his second try but not before making 2 crucial, big tackles in a row, the
second of which led to a turnover. Following a couple of rucks a snipe down the blind from
Tom B drew the defence and he put Charlie away to scoot down the touchline and crash
over, 29-10. Will C took a clever quick penalty when all the defence were expecting him to
kick for touch. He had other ideas and ran from deep, good quick hands saw Tom C and
Nathan combine for the final try, 36-10.

A mention to our referee, County stalwart Graham Robertson. He managed the game
impeccably and his communication with the boys was extremely helpful which led to a free
flowing, exciting game.
Well done to all those involved for showing great spirit and determination in a slightly
strange ‘Cup Game’ environment. Still many areas to work on in training but the whole
squad is moving on and improving both in attitude and performance.