Whilst Rugby school can lay claim to the invention of the game of Rugby, today’s visitors – Basingstoke, come from the birthplace of that great and ancient game, “Stoches Leape”.

“Stoches Leape”, as I’m sure you are all well aware, started in the early 16th century and involves competitors attempting to jump a brook or river carrying increasing numbers of piglets, the winner being the competitor that makes the jump to the far bank, and back, with the most piglets without dropping any of them. It is believed to have originated when a pig market was held in the town (near where the Alms houses stand on London Road), with the jump taking place across the nearby River Lodden.

Had the ‘black & whites’ been aware of their opponents centuries of training in the dark arts of piglet carrying before Sunday’s encounter, might the outcome have been different?

Both teams met on a bitterly cold morning and agreed to face each other in a friendly game to be played in three 30 minute ‘thirds’.

Basingstoke got proceedings underway with the kick-off. Despite a distinctly unenthusiastic pre-match warm up, Chinnor started brightly and scored the first try after just 2 minutes. With Dan Denton finishing off a solid attacking move to score in the corner. Conversion missed. 5-0 to Chinnor.

Despite their reported expertise in piglet handling and perhaps caused by the extreme cold, the early phases of the game were typified by lots of handling errors with Chinnor pressure forcing Basingstoke into making most of these.

Sustained pressure by Chinnor, was rewarded by a scrum 5 yards from the Basingstoke line. Matt Smith picked up from the base of a solid scrum and powered over to score Chinnor’s second under the posts. Ollie converted. 12-0.

Gathering the ball after the restart Chinnor continued their driving, direct play and after setting up camp on the Basingstoke try line forced a penalty 5 yards out. Iestyn forced his way through the packed Basingstoke defence to score Chinnor’s 3rd. A wayward attempt by Ollie saw Chinnor miss out on the extra 2 points from in front of the posts. 17-0 Chinnor. Was the Chinnor piglet starting to wriggle free from Basingstoke’s grip?

Chinnor were perhaps starting to feel complacent and were put under immediate pressure at the restart. Basingstoke turned over the ball quickly, recycled the ball through efficient rucking and broke free of the lacklustre Chinnor defence to score their first try under the posts which they converted to take the score to 17-7.

Basingstoke were now in the game. Both teams exerted and resisted pressure as the game ebbed and flowed. A Basingstoke lineout was won by Chinnor ‘against the head’ and a strong run by Iestyn, supported by the ever present Jack Gibbins, saw Jack run in a very good try under the posts. Ollie converted on the stroke of half time to see Chinnor close out the first ‘3rd’ 24-7.

The second ‘3rd’ saw Chinnor ring the changes and bring on a mixed A & B squad and substitute the enthusiastic amateur referee Jonathan ‘Captain’ Hook with Dave ‘The Pro’ Hanlon.

Good early work by Ollie Dawkins whose probing runs gave the Basingstoke scrum-half and back row plenty to think about all day, had one such attack crudely ended by a spear tackle by one of the considerably larger Basingstoke centres. The suitably contrite Basingstoke player was sent by Dave to consider the error of his ways on the touchline for 10mins – Basingstoke, now down to 14 players, continued to face the Chinnor attack resolutely, but Ollie quickly overcame his disappointment of a few moments earlier to dive over for a smartly taken try, to take the score to 29-7. Ollie’s attempted conversion from the side line failed to add the 2 points.

In making substitutions at the change of ends, Basingstoke unveiled their secret weapon – in the form of a distinctly diminutive prop. Showing startling pace for a front row forward, his limited stature and cannon ball like runs started to pose problems for a somewhat less organised Chinnor defence. Led by this Napoleon like figure, Basingstoke started a period of sustained attack which resulted in their mini ‘Exocet’ piercing the Chinnor line to score a well deserved try which was converted to take the score to 29-14.

With their tails up Basingstoke and their ‘little general’ started to exploit the suddenly confused weakness of the Chinnor defence. A probing kick by one of the Basingstoke half-backs saw Chinnor under immense pressure and almost certain to concede a try, however astonishing quick thinking by the increasingly impressive Adam Pipkin - alone, surrounded by fast advancing Basingstoke backs – saw probably the play of the day, when he managed to take the ball and call the mark despite taking a big hit from the advancing Basingstoke players.

Inspired by Adam, the Chinnor players rallied to resist the onslaught, however despite a brilliant breakout by Seb Scott, Dan Denton and Ben Aston - turning defence into attack, Chinnor were unable to add to their score before the whistle ended a much more evenly matched second 3rd. Score at the break 29-14 to Chinnor.

The final 3rd saw the remaining members of Chinnor’s squad brought on to face the now rejuvenated and similarly reinforced Basingstoke squad. However the ‘new’ Chinnor started where their predecessor’s had left off and they struggled to contain the increasingly impressive Basingstoke No.1 who again drove through/under! a series of ineffectual Chinnor attempts to bring him down to score an un-converted try to take the score to 29-19.

Chinnor’s defence was now becoming ineffectual and Basingstoke again broke a series of tackles to again score under the posts and put Basingstoke within piglet grabbing distance of Chinnor on 29-26.

Chinnor’s increasingly desperate defence saw Dave’s impressively impartial refereeing called upon to dispatch Toby to the bin for a high tackle. Chinnor down to 14 men.

The lack of structure and the loss of a man saw Chinnor again cut to pieces by a resurgent Basingstoke who scored again to take the lead 29-31.

Stung into action Chinnor roused themselves and a series of fantastic driving runs, with good close support, saw Matt Smith drive over for his second of the match to take Chinnor back into the lead 34-31. Lack of a ‘T’ (when will we learn!!) resulted in Adam’s attempted drop-kicked conversion attempt go just wide.

Any thought that this might inspire a renaissance in our defending was cut short by yet another series of broken tackles leading to two un-answered Basingstoke tries, the first of which was converted for them to retake the lead 34-38. However the conversion attempt for the second (in front of the posts) was successfully charged down by Toby (now back on the pitch after his spell in the ‘cooler’ – or should that be ‘freezer’?) giving a small consolation for Chinnor as the game drew to a close. Final score 34-43.

Despite the blistering cold, both sets of supporters were rewarded with an entertaining encounter, which was played (not-withstanding the two sin-bin visits) in a good spirit.

Chinnor were impressive when going forward, but suffered lapses in concentration in defence when the team was reorganised and were punished by a team that was enhanced in attack by their substitutions. This is an area that needs work if we are to continue our success in the league. But for a couple of missed conversions, this game would (& perhaps should) have been a draw which would have been a good reflection of an encounter that, taken as a whole, was very evenly matched.

Apologies for the delay in publishing this report – took three days to defrost my fingers and tape recorder!!

Jonathan “The Icicle” Bellars