Chinnor Colts draw away to Bracknell

A closely contested game played in mixed sunshine and occasional showers between two very evenly matched and determined, mixed teams. Chinnor spent most of the first 40 minutes within the Bracknell half but Chinnor failed to capitalise on the territorial advantage with handling errors both in set and open play and poor gameplay decisions - for example not to take penalty goal chances when on offer.

Both teams gave away needless and numerous penalties which stopped the overall flow of play. Chinnor had a couple of openings when the ball passed wide to the wing, but these were resisted by the opposition. Bracknell made occasional advances towards the Chinnor line but these too were met with resolute defence and scurried kicks into depth by Chinnor to regain ground lost. The hosts too made errors, but Chinnor seemed unable to convert these turnovers into points. At half time neither team had been able to register any points on the board.

The ebb and flow of the game continued in a similar fashion throughout the second half, although much more passion seemed to be in evidence as Chinnor had several close attempts at crossing the Bracknell line.

The deadlock was broken in the last 5 minutes with a speculative kick over the Bracknell backs towards their posts, this was chased and gathered by Chinnor to allow possession to be retained for a couple of phases and give the captain, Harry B, the breakthrough of touching down for the first try of the game. The conversion was successfully kicked by Chris B (Score 0-7).

The final few minutes of the match saw Bracknell seize an opening to find touch in the Chinnor corner from a penalty. They successfully gathered the ball from their lineout and drove over the Chinnor line for a matching try and subsequent conversion before the final whistle blew (Final score 7-7).

Chinnor Colts will return to Bracknell for their OBB Division 1 league fixture in December this year.

Thanks to Hugh Riley for the match report and Julia Bond for the photos.