Category: Sports News

AFTER the euphoria of last week’s win over Cinderford, Chinnor were brought down to earth by a sprightly Tonbridge Juddians side who took the game to their hosts for the whole 80 minutes.

The game started pretty evenly and when Tonbridge appeared to be having the better of possession Ben Manning wrestled his way over the line for the first try of the game converted by Jonny Bentley to give Chinnor a fairly fortuitous lead. Tonbridge then had the majority of possession but Chinnor’s solid defence kept them out. It was no surprise when Tonbridge, in the ascendency, scored an unconverted try by O’Sullivan shorty before the break to reduce Chinnor’s lead to 7-5.

In the second half Tonbridge maintained their kicking game, particularly from the boot of their No 9, and put in repeated pick and drives to expose Chinnor’s defence around the fringes. This led to their second try when Bent dotted down following a rolling maul and some slick handling. The conversion was missed which proved to be the Achilles heel in the Tonbridge performance. Chinnor replied almost immediately with Ben Manning diving under the posts for his second try converted by Bentley to restore Chinnor’s lead to 14 – 10.

Then followed a period of tit for tat attacks and although Chinnor defended stoutly Galbrith-Lowe broke through for a third try for Tonbridge edging them ahead 14-15. Bentley maintained his 100% record with the boot for Chinnor by slotting a penalty. This was soon followed by another Chinnor try by debutant Tom Ranaboldo which gave Chinnor a 9 point lead with 10 minutes remaining. Tonbridge then put a cross field kick into the corner where Watson collected and dived over for a 4th try and a much deserved bonus point. The try was once again unconverted.

Chinnor responded well but with only 4 minutes remaining they were unable to score a 4th try for a bonus point.
It was a flat and error strewn performance by Chinnor but full marks to Juddians for making the game so close. When all is said and done Chinnor maintained their unbeaten home record and the Kingsey Road fortress remains intact.

SOURCE: Contributed

CHINNOR RFC beat league leaders Cinderford last Saturday with a dominant second half performance, moving them into second place in the league.

Cinderford started well playing with the wind and using it to good effect to pin Chinnor deep in their half. Over enthusiastic play by the visitors caused Chinnor to give away two penalties which Cinderford’s Moffat converted with ease to give them a 6 – 0 lead. After 20 minutes Chinnor forwards began to obtain good possession enabling centre, Orisi Nawaqaliva, to make a 30 metre break up to the Cinderford 22 metre area. A trade mark Goodfellow dummy then found a gap and the supporting Ben Manning twisted his way over the line for Chinnor’s first try which Bentley converted.

Chinnor went straight back into the attack with lock, Jack Ramshaw, on the rampage followed by a number of forward drives towards the line with prop, Nick Bingham, forcing his way over for a second try converted by Bentley.

Cinderford fought their way back into the game with right winger, Norville, jinking through the Chinnor defence, sucking in the opposition. They then spread the ball wide to the left wing where an overlap allowed flanker Beer to cut inside to score Cinderford’s first try which Moffat converted to reduce their arrears to a narrow 13 – 14.

Chinnor responded well with Goodfellow taking a quick penalty, darting through a gap and gaining 20 metres. Cinderford, now in some disarray, offended to give away a penalty which Bentley converted. Bentley was again in the action putting a grubber kick through Cinderford’s defence, bouncing kindly for Goss to pick up on the 22 metre line and feed inside to flanker George Oliver who galloped over for Chinnor’s third try. Bentley’s boot secured another conversion giving Chinnor a 13 – 24 lead at half time.

In the second half Chinnor had the wind advantage and long kicks by Goss and Bentley into Cinderford’s territory soon turned defence into attack. This pressure caused Cinderford to give away a few penalties, one of which was taken quickly by scrum half Goodfellow who passed to the charging and unstoppable Nawaqaliva to score Chinnor’s bonus point try. Bentley converted.

Chinnor had most of the territorial advantage in the second half but excellent defending by Cinderford prevented Chinnor from scoring. The occasional Cinderford attack was rewarded with a drive from a five metre lineout with No 8, Harry Hone, diving over the line to score. Moffat converted. Sterling Chinnor defence in the last minute prevented another Cinderford try with strong tackling causing Cinderford to knock the ball forward just short of the try line. Chinnor ended up worthy winners with a 20 – 31 point victory.

Next week Chinnor are at home to league new comers Tonbridge Juddians who have a mid-table position.

SOURCE: Contributed

AFTER a disappointing result the previous weekend, Chinnor Ladies Football Club had a point to prove against Launton Ladies in the Thames Valley Division One fixture last weekend.

Chinnor started the game early, with Becky Hill and Chloe Chapman returning to their home club after a year out due to traveling and university commitments. Captain, Nat Le Manquais, made it 1-0 as she danced around the opposition defense, and slotting it beyond the stretching goalkeeper. Nat could have made it 2-0 minutes later, however by the time she took a strike, she had runn out of steam and the ball bobbled to the keepers hands.

At half time, Chinnor came out faster, and attacked against the tiring Launton, with Kate Bradshaw lobbing the Launton keeper from the edge of the box. Becky Hill made it a third with a marauding run into the box, while Katie Thorp rediscovering her striking abilities by exploiting the offside-trap, ended up-one-on one with the keeper. Credit to Launton, they kept on plugging away and Chinnor lost their clean sheet, with a deflection coming straight from a corner. Chinnor’s Keeper, Katie Wales, kept the team in the game with a point blank shot and somehow tipping the ball over the bar.

Chinnor Ladies are helping and supporting the rebuilding of the girls junior club. The juniors train from 6.15pm on Wednesdays for an hour. Further information about Girls and Ladies football in the Chinnor area can be found here :- https://www.facebook.com/ChinnorLadiesFc/

SOURCE: Contributed

ON Saturday, September 30, Thame Women’s Cricket team travelled to the last softball cricket tournament of the season, at the new sports facility, Whitelands in Bicester, and came away with a victory.

On a very blustery day, Oxford, a club with a well-established women’s team, and Thame faced each other, with the format being decided as the best of three games.

Oxford had a very good start scoring 49 off their 6 overs, but Thame responded with an impressive 52, with boundaries coming from Sally Brentnall, Mel White and Bridget Cooper. The second game saw strong batting performances from Antonia Barnes and Celeste Cooper, but it wasn’t quite enough to beat the Oxford side.

Going into the third game all square showed how the sides were evenly matched. Thame started with some tight bowling from Sally Brentnall and Sarah Sanderson and eventually restricted Oxford to 38 runs. Strong batting again from Thame, including an impressive 25 from Bridget Cooper, ensured Thame finished in the lead with 45 runs and were crowned the day’s winners!

A fantastic day was had by all and the win ended the women’s season on a high. Women of all ages and abilities are welcome and Thame cricket club would love to see you next season, so do come along ! Just contact Sheena Beard on sheenabeard@btinternet.com. More details at http://www.thamecricket.org.uk/womens-cricket/

SOURCE: Contributed

WORTHING started well on Saturday (30/09) by depriving Chinnor of possession for the first five minutes and probing deep into Chinnor’s territory. Then the game began to see-saw with both teams looking threatening.

Chinnor No 8 Jack Ramhaw was sin binned after 10 minutes for an alleged high tackle. Worthing were soon down to 14 men as well when full back Leeming was deemed to deliberately knock the ball forward preventing a Chinnor try. The referee awarding a penalty try to Chinnor giving them a 0-7 point lead.

This spurred Chinnor into an attacking mode with Oscar Heath breaking through the defence with the pack in full support. After several phases of play the ball was whipped wide for Phil Chesters to score an unconverted try in the corner. 10 minutes later and another blind side attack saw Chesters’ sprint around the Worthing defence for his second try converted by Bentley.

Worthing then fought back and found breaches in the Chinnor defence to put flanker Kemp Price in for a try converted by fly half McLean to reduce their arrears to 7 -19. Chinnor’s response was a Health half break with exquisite handling between Manning and Bentley to put Goss through a gap to score on half time with Bentley converting for a 7 – 24 lead.

The start of the second half was all Chinnor with driving runs by front row Lawrence and Gilding supported by Green and Manning forcing Worthing back to their try line where they defended magnificently. Eventually a darting run by Lamont and a switch pass to Hamilton enabled him to find the room to score a try converted by Bentley.

Worthing fought back again with a driving maul but were dispossessed on the try line by a sterling Chinnor defence. A Hamilton counterattack was stopped just short of the line but the ever present Bentley picked up to score and convert his own try.

Despite Chinnor’s dominance Worthing never gave up and centre Kiba Richards crashed over for a try converted by McLean. Chinnor then finished off an all round team effort with centre Orisi Nawaqaliva crashing into the 22 metre area sucking in the Worthing defence then spinning the ball wide creating a two man overlap with Lamont trotting in for the final try  converted by Bentley, for a convincing 14 – 45 victory.

Third place Chinnor now face league leaders, Cinderford away next week in what will be a crucial match in fight for the championship, despite being so early on in the season.

SOURCE: Contributed

THAME travelled to the picturesque Wormsley cricket ground hoping to round off a hugely-successful season with a win in the Wilf Bennett T20 final.

Thame won the toss and elected to bat, in front of a large crowd of their supporters. However, losing both openers early they struggled to get a grip on the game, with tight bowling and fielding from opponents Bicester and North Oxford. Despite a partnership between Callum Russell (37*) and Michael Beard (30), plus lusty blows from Adam Phippen, two middle-order run-outs put Thame on the back-foot as they only managed a total of 107-6 off their 20 overs.

The BNOCC innings started well for Thame, with a Michael Higgs wicket, but from there a pivotal second-wicket partnership and poor bowling all but took the game away, despite a flurry of late wickets. Only Hassam Mushtaq found his line on the day with his spell of 4 overs 1 for 11, but unfortunately this wasn’t enough, BNOCC winning with two overs to spare and by 6 wickets.

A disappointing end to a very successful Cup run but the great performances of the club’s youngsters bode well for next season and beyond.

Meanwhile, the club won the final two friendlies of the season – on the 9th against Hetairoi (Guy Holmes 100*- pictured and 3 wickets for Lewis Ludlam) and on the 17th against Northfields CC (Harry Thomas 63) – while the Women’s team lost a close match against an experienced South Moreton team on the 17th, with runs coming from Beth Johns and Mel White. The Women’s team will finish their season at the Bicester softball festival on Saturday 30th.

Source: Contributed

THAME Town Cricket Club’s T20 team has reached the final of one of the county’s two big T20 competitions, the Wilf Bennett Cup, and the club is hoping that lots of locals will make the short journey to Wormsley, near Stockenchurch – just 20 minutes drive away to support them.

Wormsley is a very prestigious cricket venue, on the Getty estate, a beautiful 18th century Estate in the Chiltern Hills, and the match begins at 11am this Saturday, September 16th.

AFTER the celebrations of the Thame Town Cricket Club’s momentous promotion to the Home Counties Premier League, Division One, for the first time in its history, the club’s attention has now squarely turned to the plans for the new clubhouse.

With the start of work delayed temporarily, due to higher-than-expected tenders, the club, with the help and support of Thame Town Council, has now entered a busy month of work to get the project ready for the starting gun to be fired.

On the cost side, discussions are well under way with the various contractors who submitted tenders, in order to bring the costs within an acceptable budget. On the fundraising side, the club is asking all its members, friends and supporters to help, in one or more of these three ways:-

• By sponsoring a brick in one of the interior walls of the new clubhouse – full details can be found and a card downloaded from – LINK
  (or just call 07968-201152 for a card).
• by making a donation, however small, on the club’s crowdfunding site – LINK  (or just google the words “crowdfunder Thame cricket club”
• if you have a business and would like to help, please contact Andy Jinman (email – marketing@thamecricket.org.uk) to talk about sponsorship or advertising that would benefit both parties

Club spokesman, Andy Jinman, said: “This new clubhouse will not only benefit the men, women and children in the cricket club, but also Thame Hockey Club, as a social centre, and local community groups that will use the new spaces for their activities.”

Finally, on the field of play, Thame’s Sunday XI beat wandering side, Hetairoi, last Saturday, September 9, by six wickets, with Guy Holmes making 100*. The season will come to an end this weekend, with the club’s T20 team battling it out against Bicester and North Oxford for the Wilf Bennett Cup, at the Wormsley Estate’s ground, starting at 11am on Saturday 16, (free entry). That will be followed by a friendly match at home on Sunday 17, and the Women’s team taking part in a tournament at South Moreton on the same day.

SOURCE – Contributed

BOTH teams on Saturday (September 10), knew the importance of the game ahead of them to set up the season, so the degree of intensity at the start of the match was to be expected.

It was Henley who applied the early pressure, with Chinnor endeavouring to play some expansive rugby to clear their lines. They were playing against the wind so this was a sensible approach.

The game opened up when Bentley made a clever break before putting in a well-judged chip ahead for Phil Chesters to win the chase to the touch down after just two minutes, but Bentley failed with the conversion.

Play then became a little frenetic before Henley replied with a penalty from some 35 metres by Connor Murphy. This was swiftly followed by a powerful surge from the Henley pack resulting in Harry Burn scoring with Murphy adding the extras. A trademark Kieran Goss try under the posts put Chinnor back in front. Chinnor were now looking quite potent with ball in hand resulting in Henry Lamont scoring with his first touch of the ball after replacing the injured Phil Chesters. After a lull in proceedings another delightful move saw Orisi Nawaqaliva touch down under the posts on the stroke of half time, with Bentley adding the extras. This gave Chinnor a half time lead of 26 – 13.

The second half began with Chinnor opting to kick for goal with Bentley slotting over two penalties. Jamel Hamilton then made his mark by setting up Will Bordill to once again go under the posts for Chinnor. Interchanges then become commonplace with Henley beginning to become dominant up front. It was no surprise when towards the end of the game the referee awarded Henley a penalty try following a succession of infringements by the Chinnor scrum.

This was hard fought game played in a good spirit with maybe the score not totally reflecting the flow of the game as Henley had territorial domination. Chinnor’s scrum half, Greg Goodfellow, was Man of the Match producing several darting runs turning defence into attack.

Peter Davies, the Henley coach commented: “Enjoyed the day. The game was played in a good spirit. The difference between the sides was at half back. We left three scores on the paddock. Chinnor line breaks were clinical.”

Matt Williams said: “With the ball in hand we looked dangerous. Our defence was top drawer.”

Next week (September 16) Chinnor are away to London Irish Wild Geese.

SOURCE: Contributed – edited

LAST Sunday afternoon, September 3, found Chinnor Ladies football team play host to New London Lionesses, at the Community Stadium – and left feeling hungry for more!

Lionesses started proactively and were relentless in their attack, as Chinnor played into the wind and ‘up hill’. Lionesses didn’t have it all their own way, with Chinnor stringing a number of attacks together, but for the majority of the game, were on the back foot. Changes were made to protect the damage, but it was an eye opening experience for Chinnor on where the team and club could be, with the correct direction.

Chinnor looked better in the second half, but failed to defend effectively against Lionesses’ 22. Chinnor Manager, Gemma Clark, remarked: “We were beaten by a team who were fast, athletic and technically better than us. But it makes us all the more hungry and determined to make it a success at Chinnor.

“The 12-0 defeat is disappointing, but the ladies came off the pitch smiling and loved the experience. We have Woodstock in the league next Sunday, we’re all looking forward to that.”

Chinnor Ladies have been helping Chinnor Youth in rebuilding the girls teams in the area. The Girls train from 6.15pm to 7.30 on Wednesdays evenings at White Fields. All ages and abilities are welcome. Coaches are fully qualified and CRB checked.

If you’re interested, you can contact Katie Wales (Chinnor Development Officer) at katie.d.wales@gmail.com

SOURCE: Contributed