Sat 23 Oct 2021, 15:00
Cambridge kicked off and Chinnor spilled the ball, this meant we were able to retrieve the ball in the Chinnor 22. After a couple of phases we fed the ball wide to Kwaku about 30 metres out, he brushed off three tacklers to score in the corner to give us an early lead, Rayners's kick into the tricky wind was unsuccessful, but we were 5-0 up in two minutes. More pressure earned us a penalty which was kicked to the corner and Ben Brownlie converted the driving maul. Again the kick went wide, but we were 10-0 up after 18 minutes.
Chinnor were not bowed and fed off Cambridge penalties to score two well worked tries to go 12-10 up and then take the points with a kick to extend that to 15-10.
We kicked off, and our pressure meant they were forced to kick back at us. Joe Tarrant caught the ball and his run set us up a position in their 22, an inside pass gave Matt Hema a hole to run through, and he scored our third.
Another penalty let Chinnor work another well taken try in the corner, but they could not convert. The wind blowing across the pitch made kicking difficult for both sides.
Then just as time was up we drove deep into their territory and with an advantage, Matt Hema put a grubber through which Kwaku was able to collect and dot down in the corner for his second. That gave us the bonus point as we headed into half-time, but the game was still in the balance.
I am not sure quite what the pack ate at half-time, but it might have been a well-known brand of breakfast biscuits - whatever, they certainly had the hex on the Chinnor pack. We won a series of scrum penalties and Chinnor were forced to pull down our driving maul. This meant we spent much of the half deep in Chinnor territory. We added a try for Kieran Frost before exchanging penalties, giving us a 9 point lead with 10 minutes to go.
We perhaps should have scored again, Chinnor were forced to give away more penalties, and we earned a line out in their 22 and a yellow card. However, we made a mistake at the line out. Such was the pressure on the Chinnor scrum, they opted for the line out. They were able to run the ball out. We turned the ball over but chose to kick the ball back to them, but the ball went straight up and down, catching our players offside. They took the kick quickly and were able to run into the corner to pick up their fourth try and a losing bonus point - the pace left more than half the players from both sides on the floor catching their breath. The conversion took them within two, but time was up, and the ref blew for full time.
Chinnor were missing a number of players to injury, especially in the front row - which is why they could not supply a front row for the Wanderers match - but that is a fact of life in National League rugby. Billy Walker picked up a nasty looking shoulder injury in a scrum collapse. Ben Brownlie and Kieran Frost both needed ice on knocks, but hopefully they should be OK by next week.
The Chinnor falcon might have been missing a few talons, but you can only play the players in front of you, and five points on the road is always a bonus.
Final Score: Chinnor 30 - 32 Cambridge
Tries: Asiedu (2), Brownlie, Hema, Frost.
Conversion: Rayner (2)
Penalty: Rayner
