There must be something in the Chinnor handbook for Colts that says “give away an early try”, it happened last season and it’s happened this season too. Early pressure from Newbury was resisted with tackles flying thick and fast but after conceding a penalty 15 metres out in front of the posts, Newbury swept the ball wide for their centre to cut back inside and with a twist and turn evade our tackles to cross the line for a converted try. Stung into action, Chinnor started to retain more ball and moved upfield a few times before handling errors or offside brought the move to a close. Nevertheless, the balance had subtly swung and approx 20 minutes in, the backs moved the ball wide for Dominic Bradbrook-Taylor to weave and finish in the corner (7-5) The Chinnor pack looked very effective as it drove Newbury back at Scrums, winning 2/3 against the head and creating opportunity for the forwards. Equally, the forwards were now dominant in the lineout stealing several Newbury balls and winning their own, This pressure paid off at 30 mins when Chinnor won the ball at the Scrum on their own 10 metre line. George Grosse at 10 needed no second invite when he saw a gap, sped through and weaved his way to the posts, neatly stepping the full back on the way and adding the conversion for 7 points (7 –12). In the second half, Chinnor started with conviction and it wasn’t long before Chinnor were camped inside the Newbury 22 for a sustained period and ultimately rewarded at 42 mins by Anthony Kent when he took the ball 10 metres out and decided nothing would stop him (7 – 17). At this point we began to think about closing the match out, especially with lineout and scrum dominance, but Newbury refused to give up and were quicker to, and more effective at the breakdown, counter-rucking to secure the ball on several occasions. Newbury’s diligence paid off and a second converted try brought them back to 14 –17 at 50 mins. Despite some early season handling errors, Chinnor stuck to the task and Cameron Leff restored some modicum of comfort at 57 mins when he went over for 5 points (14 – 22). Handling errors and counter rucking let Newbury back in again and they brought the score to 21 – 22 with a third converted try. On balance, Chinnor were the better side, their own errors created the opportunities that Newbury took well but George English created that little margin of comfort when he went through for a final 5 points 4 mins from time. An entertaining game demonstrating some fine moments of skill and a great reversal of last season’s final score.