Category: Sports News

MATCH REPORT – Richmond 23 pts Chinnor 21 pts, October 11.
THIS result was massively disappointing from a Chinnor perspective. They were on the wrong end of two refereeing decisions which undoubtedly cost them the game. The first occurred when a deliberate trip was immediately followed by a deliberate knock-on, when Chinnor were in the act of scoring and was a hard one to take on board.
The exchange referee chose to ignore these incidents even when the assistant referee, who was right on the spot, recommended a penalty try along with a yellow card. The second happened when Toby Prescott was incorrectly penalised for being offside when he intercepted a pass from the Richmond No.8 to their scrum half, and had a clear field in front of him – a pretty poor call.

Chinnor made four changes in their starting line-up with Ben Hewitt, who returned from the Antipodes on Monday, at fly half, resulting in James Cathcart going onto the bench. James Eckert also given his first start, as was Max Williams in place of the suspended Angus Neilson. They were also missing the influential Sam Black, which meant Harry Jackman slotting into the second row and Adam Hastings coming in at No.6.

Richmond took the lead in the 2nd minute with a Matt Hart penalty. Right wing David West then crossed for a Richmond try following a defence splitting run by No.8 Guillaume Schueller. With Hart adding the conversion, Richmond were 10 points to the good after just 14 minutes play. Chinnor then broke from the middle of the field only to be thwarted illegally in the act of scoring. Not to be denied, they were running the ball at every available opportunity. A delightful move down the tight side saw the ball transferred to Eric Brown, who gathered his own chip ahead and pass back inside to the supporting Toby Prescott to go over for the try. With Ben Hewitt slotting the conversion, Chinnor were back in the game at the half-time whistle.

Joe Winpenny came on at the start of the second half for the injured Tom Whelan. Within a minute of the restart, Chinnor scored. Max Williams, who had an outstanding first 40 minutes, was first to the breakdown on a Richmond ball. He secured possession and fed the supporting Eric Brown who crossed the line with three Richmond players hanging onto him. With Ben Hewitt adding the conversion, Chinnor took the lead. They could well have extended this but Toby Prescott was adjudged off side which stifled what should have been a golden opportunity. Substitute Luke Cousins then kicked a penalty. Tries by wingers Jonathan Webbe, and David West, his second, gave Richmond a 9 point advantage during a phase in the game where Chinnor found it difficult to get their hands on the ball. In the dying stages, Chinnor then came agonisingly close to winning. A try by Trevor Powell from a quickly taken tap penalty, converted by Cathcart, on for the injured Darren Oxley, gave them hope. They were then awarded a penalty on the half way line with the James Cathcart attempt falling just inches under the cross-bar.

It is said that teams earn their luck. Well Chinnor fought long and so very hard on Saturday but luck did not arrive in their direction. Taking a major positive out of this game, it illustrated that Chinnor are well able to compete at this level. An excellent debut by young Max Williams with Ben Hewitt also starting where he left off last season, were particular highlights.

By Ken Vaughan

Photo: Max Williams, who played his debut match against Richmond last Saturday.

Thame United 6, Launton Sports 1 – MATCH REPORT – THAME UNITED secured their second successive win on Saturday (11/10), with a convincing performance against bottom of the league, Launton Sports. Whilst the visitors will not be the strongest opposition Thame play this year, the Thame team nevertheless took their chances and played with a flair and confidence rarely seen this season.
Right-winger, Ben Connelly, had an outstanding game with four of Thame?s goals coming directly from his crosses.
The win takes Thame from 17th to 14th league position.

The first 10 minutes gave no clue to the outcome of the game as Launton Sports were the stronger of the two sides. However, Thame then began to gain the upper hand and created some good chances. On 20 minutes a Nik Rhodes header from a Matt Miller cross forced an excellent save from the visiting goalkeeper. Thame took the lead five minutes later when Connelly made a good run on the right before cutting into the penalty area where he was fouled by a visiting defender. Adam Rhodes took the penalty, which glanced off the left post on its way into the goal.

Thame?s second came a minute before the break when Mark Jones beat the offside trap and ran at goal before squaring the ball to Matt Miller for a far post tap in.

Thame goalkeeper, Ryan Bell, who had not been troubled in the first half, was forced to make a good, diving save shortly after the restart, but from there on Thame controlled the game. Their third goal came on 53 minutes when Connelly played a cross-field ball to Will Wallace who coolly sidestepped the advancing keeper before hitting the ball into an empty net. Ten minutes later Connelly ran at the defence and crossed for Mark Jones to finish from close range.

Thame?s fifth was very similar as Connelly continued the supply of quality low crosses, Matt Miller netting has second. With 15 minutes to play, Launton pulled a goal back when the ball was played to the unmarked Neil Tattersall who volleyed in from 10 yards, giving Bell no chance. Thame made it six with five minutes to play, when Connelly pulled the ball back from the by-line for substitute Tom Hoskin to net from two yards.

Thame United: Bell, Thompson, Newell (Hoskins), N Rhodes, Graves (c), Cowan, Connelly, A Rhodes, Miller (Smail), Jones, Wallace (El-Kassir)

Thame travel to unbeaten 3rd placed Binfield next Saturday (18th). Their next home game is at Wallingford on Saturday 25th October when Holyport are the visitors.

Photo: Ben Connelly

SCORE: Maidenhead United 1, v Thame United 4. THAME United?s UNDER 18 Youth team put in a fantastic performance over the weekend, in difficult conditions, to progress into the third Qualifying Round of the prestigious, FA Youth Cup by defeating Maidenhead United 4 – 1.
Within a minute of the start, Chris Brougham was fouled on the edge of the opposing team?s penalty area and from the resulting free kick Mitchell Meredith smashed the ball into the back of the net from close range.
As the game progressed Thame played the better football and it was Haitham Sherif who latched onto a precision pass from Brougham to make it two nil to Thame. Maidenhead pressed their home advantage but Thomas Hoskin & Meredith controlled the midfield to snub out any real danger before Craig Connell put Sherif through to send Thame in 3 ? 0 up at the interval.
Predictably Maidenhead came out for the second half and pressed the Thame goal and despite Ryan Bell marshalling his defence Maidenhead squeezed what turned out to be a consolation effort before Matt West broke down the right wing to send in a measured pass for hatrick hero Sherif to round off the scoring and send Thame into the next round.

Thame United squad, R Bell, R Chapman, P Blore, C Connell, J Misseldine, T Hoskin, M Meredith, R Smail, C Brougham, H Sherif, Z Wiggins, M West

MATCH REPORT: Chinnor 20 pts Worthing 32 pts
For the Chinnor side this result was a bitter pill to swallow. In effect they had, in the space of four minutes, managed to turn victory into defeat. The first of the three tries they conceded in this period was most unfortunate, the second debatable as the referee completely ignored a blatant piece of blocking, and the third came as a result of them playing “catch up ” rugby in order to salvage a point.
It was a classic illustration of its kind in pressing the self destruct button.

Chinnor won the toss and elected to play with the strong South Westerly at their backs. This decision did not go to plan as in the 5th minute, Worthing were awarded a try from a forward push-over when No.8 Paul Cox was driven over the line. Two penalty goals by James Cathcart was a reward for a period of sustained Chinnor pressure. When Pip Seymour scored from a delightful set move involving Toby Prescott and Alex Wallace and with Cathcart adding the conversion, all seemed well, with the lead now 8 points, 12 minutes remaining in the half and Chinnor in the ascendancy looking to extend their lead. However following a breakaway by Worthing, an astute kick into the wind by scrum-half Andrew Rogers found the Chinnor defence not covering the blind side and with the ball bouncing kindly into the hands of Charlie McGowan Worthing were just three points adrift at the half time whistle with the luxury of the wind for the last 40 minutes.

Chinnor attacked straight from the beginning of the second half. They went close to scoring with the referee penalising Worthing on a couple of occasions for going over the ball. A superb piece of opportunism by the ever alert Arthur Ellis from the second penalty saw him take it quickly and scamper over the line from some 10 metres out without hardly a hand being placed on him. The conversion by Cathcart gave Chinnor a 10 point cushion which they defended magnificently only conceding a penalty during the next 35 minutes. A breakout from defence where they had defended stoutly close to the scrum and line-out for a long period, proved to be their undoing.With them opening up the field of play and creating a two man overlap, a sloppy pass put Wallace under pressure allowing Richard Kay to collect the lose ball and score.Richard Coulson kicked the conversion to level the scores. Chinnor then momentarily went onto the attack resulting in the Worthing fly half putting in a long defensive kick to the far side of the field Cathcart fielded this kick only to be being challenged by left wing Nielsen who must have been metres offside and then subsequently blocked as he put in a chip kick. With the referee, who’s ego was matched by his girth, waving play on, Worthing were in front. The final try by Nielsen was a gift with Chinnor now hitting a kamikaze mode.

Difficult League this, with no game coming remotely easy So its doubly frustrating to lose at home to a team they were expecting to beat. Both Arthur Ellis and Sam Black played extremely well. With Angus Neilson now being side-lined for six weeks they will need to dig deep, although Ben Hewitt has arrived back from Australia to assist the Chinnor cause.

Photo: Chinnor’s Try scoring winger, Pip Seymour in action against Worthing.

RACQUETS Fitness centre in Thame has won a Gold Award for its development of the game of Squash and Racketball.
Racquets came first in the South East Area Region, in front of Winchester and Buckinghanm clubs, and will now progress to the National awards.

A certificate and cash prizes of

CHINNOR Seconds travelled to play Westcombe Park Seconds, on Saturday (04/10), Westcombe’s First Fifteen playing in National League Two.
It was a game played by two very good teams that was always going to be a very good test for both the Chinnor young guns and some of the old heads in the team.
Chinnor went behind after only five minutes by a penalty and it took to the 20th minute with Chinnor being under continuous pressure, that Tom Shiel intercepted a pass making a certain try in his own 22, to run the length of the field and score under the posts. This was converted by Thad Cooper.

This was the lift that Chinnor needed and although they conceded a try within five minutes, they then started to dominate the scrums, rucks and mauls. And although there was no points added in the next 15 minutes you could see the boys building pressure against Westcombe. The first half finished 7 points to 8 in Westcombe?s favour.

It took 10 minutes into the second half before Chinnor took the lead after some outstanding work by the forwards and Shiel got his second try in the corner putting Chinnor in the lead back. Five minutes later another well-worked try was scored and converted by Cooper. Chinnor led by 19 points to 8. Again Westcombe came back with a very good try of their own. Two minutes later Chinnor added to their tally with a Cooper penalty only for Westcombe to come back again with another converted try and Chinnor?s lead was only two points.

Chinnor decided to close the game down and played the game in the Westcombe half of the field and were awarded another penalty that was successfully converted by Cooper and the game finished by a well deserved win for Chinnor by 25 points to 20.

Although all 18 players played well, Man of the match goes to Paddy Stennings for his outstanding play and leading the forwards so well.

MATCH REPORT – League game: 04/10/08, Finchampstead 1, Thame United 2.

THAME United secured their first win of the season on Saturday 04/10), when they travelled to Berkshire to face Finchampstead. Thame were without experienced striker Matty Miller who was injured in mid-week training.
The game was played in a strong, gusting wind, which made long balls unpredictable and precision passing difficult for both teams. It was a close game but on balance, Thame just about deserved the three points.

The first half was fairly even with half chances at both ends. Sam Cowan, Ben Connelly and Tom Gough all went close for Thame. The teams went in for half time however with the game goalless and neither goalkeeper seriously tested.

The visitors took the lead 4 minutes after the restart. Tom Gough headed the ball to Luke Ricketts who was tackled 12 yards from goal and, although the challenge was fair, the home defender then passed
the ball to his goalkeeper. Thame were awarded a free kick close to the penalty spot and Finchampstead packed their goalmouth. Nick Rhodes took the kick, which was deflected off a defender before beating the
home goalkeeper. Thame’s lead only lasted for a minute. Finchamstead kicked off and mounted an attack during which their were cries of handball. Like the referee, I did not see an infringement but after
consulting his linesman, the referee awarded a penalty. The resultant spot kick was taken well, giving Paul Searle no chance.

Thame’s second goal came with 10 minutes remaining. Newcomer Will mail, who had just come on as a substitute, created it with a determined run from the right, beating at least two defenders before
passing to Tom Gough 5 yards from goal. Gough half scuffed, half side footed, his shot but it finished in the corner of the home net. The Final few minutes were frantic and Searle was forced to make a good
save before the referee blew the final whistle.

Thame United: Searle, Thompson, Newell, N.Rhodes, Graves, Jones El-Kassir), Connelly, Cowan, Goffe, Ricketts, Wallace (Smail).

MATCH REPORT: CHINNOR V BRIDGEWATER – AWAY MATCH – September 27. SCORE: Bridgwater & Albion 25 vs Chinnor 20.

CHINNOR were disappointed to go down by 25 points to 20 on their visit to Somerset, last weekend.

Two events led to their downfall. The first was not being switched on at the start of the match with Bridgwater scoring their first try with less than a minute on the clock. The second critical event was the harsh sin-binning of Chinnor captain, Matt Hutchings. In the ten minutes that he was off, Bridgwater scored 14 points.

Straight from the kick-off Bridgwater ran the ball back with pace and with good handling skills to allow lock Hunt to cut back under the posts for the opening try, and an easy conversion for fly half, Cozens. Eight minutes later, Cozens added a penalty to give Bridgwater a 10-nil lead.

Retrieving the ball from the restart, Bridgwater kicked deep. Chinnor full back, Wallace fielded the ball and put up a ‘Garryowen’ which he collected on the run. Breaking through the defence, Wallace got the ball away to hooker Ellis, showing good speed in support, to score. Cathcart converted from the touchline.

On 15 minutes, Chinnor?s Hutchings was sin-binned for lazy running. In the following 10 minutes, Bridgwater?s other lock, Hodge, played a decisive part in the match, scoring two tries – one from a well worked lineout ploy and the other from a catch and drive. The second try was converted by Cozens to give Bridgwater a 22-7 lead. The next score went to Chinnor with Wallace again showing good decision making. He sliced through the defence and drew the last man to slip a perfectly flighted scoring pass to Serrano who scored in the corner. Cathcart again converted to bring the score to 22-14.

Cozens scored a penalty to complete the day?s scoring for Bridgwater. Following good turnover ball, Chinnor had the line at their mercy with a two man overlap but fumbled the final pass for what would have been a comfortable score. At half time Bridgwater led 25-14.

Shortly after the restart, Cathcart missed a penalty kick but made up for it minutes later with a successful attempt. By now Chinnor were competing well and denied Bridgwater any score in the second half whilst missing out on some scoring opportunities of their own. Skipper Hutchings caught the eye with some determined ball carrying. A late penalty from Cathcart brought the score to 25-20 and a bonus point. Chinnor pressed hard in the last 10 minutes for a winning score which never came.

Bridgwater competed hard for everything and their pace and desire to run the ball was evident throughout, even though their forwards were the source of all their tries.

Chinnor got off to a slow start which proved to be their undoing. Cathcart achieved some difficult scoring kicks and his out-of hand-kicking was masterful, using both feet skilfully. A better second half for Chinnor was not quite good enough to overcome the damage of the first minute.

RACQUETS Fitness Centre, Thame, is offering free use of its facilities all this week.

MILTON UNITED 2, THAME UNITED 1 – Match report.

If you were a betting man this is the result that you would have gone for, given that in each of the four previous meetings with Milton over the last two seasons Milton have run out victors 2-1.
However, on Saturday (27/09), it looked like a different result was on the cards after only two minutes, when Thame striker Tom Goffe received the ball from Mark Jones 25 yards from goal and, without a defender in sight, calmly rounded the advancing keeper and slotted the ball home from a narrow angle.

Whilst Thame nearly extended their lead 10 minutes later, when Sam Cowan headed just wide from a corner, Milton were gradually coming back into the game and on 19 minutes Searl did well to turn a Lee Keyes volley around the post. Two minutes later Keyes turned Nik Rhodes 30 yards from goal and went around Mitchell Meredith before slotting the ball in to the bottom right hand corner of the goal, giving Searl no chance.

The momentum was now with Milton and Searl did well to turn a free kick over the bar in the 38th minute.

The second half continued in much the same vein, with Matt Miller and Goffe causing the home defence problems and Milton dangerous on the break. The winning goal arrived in the 64th minute when Thame lost the ball in midfield and Milton played the ball out wide. The deep cross from the left was met by the unmarked Gary Hartley who confidently headed the ball in to the back of the net from five yards.

The goal stirred Thame back to life and for the remainder of the game Milton were on the back foot as Thame searched for the equalizer. The best chance came in the 76th minute when, in the space of 30 seconds, Matt Miller first saw his shot blocked, substitute Thomas Hoskin followed up to see his effort cleared off the line, before a third effort from Hoskin was wide of the goal. The last chance for Thame came in the 86th minute when debutant, William Wallace, hit a goal bound volley from the edge of the box that the Milton keeper acrobatically tipped over the bar.

Although Thame have now fallen at the first hurdle of the Challenge Cup for the second season in a row against Premier Division Milton United, they will have taken a number of positives from the game, and will be looking forward to a return to league action at Finchampstead on October 4.

Thame United: Searl, Graves, N.Rhodes, Meredith, Jones (Green), A.Rhodes, Cowan, El-Kassir (Hoskin), Goffe (Catlin), Miller, Wallace.