Comfortable win for Chinnor U15s

A welcome return to form for Chinnor U15s with some good play against a Newbury team who did not have their county players available. By contrast Chinnor took 23 players to the impressive Berkshire club.

The front row of stalwarts Shaun, Harry and Louis played well with only one scrum going against the head. Owen and Archie B also propped for one quarter. The workrate from them along with Ben N, Ben G, Richard and Finlay was consistently high making it hard for Newbury to gain ground. Gus started at #8 and showed good initiative. Archie B played one quarter at #8, making an impact as usual.

The team started with a combination of Dan M at #9 and Josh E at #10, and this proved effective in the first quarter. This combination was then replaced with Rosco at #9 and Joe at #10 (for quarters 2 and 3) and finally Dan at #9 and Tom at #10 for the final quarter. All had a good game with effective conversions from Tom and Ben S.

Eddie C was effective at full-back with several well timed runs to support the backs in attack. He snaffled a bouncing ball and evaded the opposition to pop the ball to Ed M to score from a 40 yard sprint. Beautiful timing and great team work! Will F, Alex B and Ben S injected pace on the wings. Chris, Toby, Tom and Dylan played at inside and outside centre making yards in attack and pressing up in defence.

Of note was the last try where a text-book maul from a lineout provided a stable base for Archie B to seize the moment and dash over the try line. A great display of team work from the forwards!

Ben S captained the team with Ben G as vice-captain. As ever, there are things to work on (receiving the kick, avoiding an offside position and capitalising on a 2 on 1 situation) and these will form the basis for the next training session.

Newbury played consistently throughout, gaining in determination as the match progressed. They were unlucky not to score from a fumbled ball knocked on over the try line. Their two tries came in the second half as a result of their persistent pressure in attack.

Try scorers: Dan M, Gus, Finlay, Ben S, Dylan (x2), Ben G, Josh E, Ed M, Archie B (x2).