THAME United are celebrating tonight after becoming Hellenic League Champions 2017.
Thame beat Henley Town 9-0 this afternoon, while Bracknell, who were equal top until day, lost to Highworth Town, 2 – 1.
Lynton Goss scored six of the nine Thame goals. Three of the goals came from penalties awarded to Thame
Henley will subsequently now be relegated.
THAME Town Council has agreed to award funding of £1,500 towards and estimated £8,000 needed to run a ‘Sport in the Street’ event in Thame High Street.
The event is being organised by Manoj Parmar, who runs MP Cricket Academy, which operates at both Lord Williams’s school in Thame and in Long Crendon, and who organised a Cricket in the Street event in Thame’s town centre, last year.
This year’s Sport in the Street event is planned for Friday, June 23, 2017.
CHINNOR RFC welcomed Bishop’s Stortford to Kingsey Road on Saturday (01/04) knowing that defeat to the league leaders would end their own title chances and possibly a place in the play off for promotion to National division one.
The visitors started well and early pressure led to a penalty in midfield kicked by scrum half Banks for a 3-0 lead.
Straight from the restart, winger Luke Hibberd plucked the kick off out of the air and went in unopposed. Jonny Bentley converted for 7-3.
It was end to end stuff already and Stortford capitalised on loose play from the restart to pressurise the Chinnor defence into giving away a second kickable penalty. Banks was successful to make it 7-6 after nine minutes.
A period of sustained Chinnor pressure in the middle of the half was well defended by Bishop’s Stortford until on the 27 minute mark flanker Ben Manning cut through and went over near the posts. The conversion by Bentley made it 14-6.
The visitors stormed straight back after Chinnor had lost a third line out and winger Rea took a hanging kick to stretch over the line near the corner. Banks converted to make it 14-13 after 32 minutes.
Just before half time Chinnor captain Danny Barnes had to leave the field for suspected concussion with Junior Fatialofa coming on as replacement. The sides went in at the break 14-13.
The second period started with plenty of turnovers and Stortford looking to use the wind at their backs. A penalty on 50 minutes to Stortford was kicked to the corner and from the lineout the forwards rumbled over to score and take the lead 18-14. Banks missed the conversion. Chinnor came straight back and from a lineout on the Stortford 22, scrum half Greg Goodfellow broke and fed Bentley to go over for a third try. Bentley converted to make it 21-18 on 56 minutes.
There was no let up as Stortford looked to regain the initiative and replacement Nic Clancy scythed through the Chinnor defence to score a superb individual effort. Banks converted to make it 25-21 on 60 minutes.
Bentley kicked a penalty to narrow the deficit to 24-25 on 64 minutes before a clean break in midfield by Ben Pienaar almost put the hosts in at the corner before winger Hibberd was bundled into touch.
With 10 minutes remaining a break by Goodfellow into the Stortford 22 gave Bentley a second penalty opportunity which he gratefully took for Chinnor to retake the lead 27-25.
From the restart Chinnor infringed but Banks missed the penalty which would put them back ahead. A second misdemeanour by the hosts from a scrum near halfway gave the scrum half a chance to redeem himself but again his effort went wide.
Chinnor attacked as the clock ran down to try and get a precious bonus point but it wasn’t to be and this fierce and close fought contest ended 27-25. It was the first time the hosts had ever beaten Bishop’s Stortford and the game was a tremendous advert for tier 4 rugby.
Bishop’s Stortford coach Andy Long said ” We are disappointed, it was a fierce match on a knife edge. We put ourselves in a good position to win. We will move on from this with 3 games left”
Chinnor DoR Matt Williams was delighted with the victory but frustrated at letting the bonus point slip by: “The heart and desire the boys showed today makes last week’s result against Clifton an even bigger pill to swallow,” he said. “We now have given ourselves a real chance to fight to the end of the season with Old Elthamians.”
Elsewhere Old Elthamians’ bonus point win over Barnes moves them into second place by virtue of games won. In all likelihood, Chinnor will now need to take maximum points from the three remaining matches to have any chance of being in the play off.
Chinnor 27 Bishop’s Stortford 25
Teams
Chinnor
Kieran Goss, Luke Hibberd, Danny Barnes (c), Bevon Armitage, Henry Lamont, Jonny Bentley, Greg Goodfellow, Tom Price, Mark Darlington, Joe Hutchinson, Nathan Hannay, CJ Osazuwa, Richard Thorpe, Ben Manning, Tom Burns
Interchanges: Jay Tyack, Koree Britton, Ben Pienaar, Basil Strang, Junior Fatialofa
Bishop’s Stortford
Will Simmonds, Nick Hankin, Sam Winter (c), Johnny Neville, Jimmy Rea, Pier Dotta, Tom Banks, Will Roberts, Declan Caulfield, Sean Edwards, Jon George, Matt Tomlinson, James Apperley, Dan Elsom, Steve Ball
Interchanges: Seb Brownhill, Tom McCrone, Rory Banks, Nic Clancy, Sam Coleman
Scorers
Chinnor
Tries (time): Hibberd 5, Manning 29 Bentley 55
Conversions (time): Bentley 6, 30, 56
Penalty Goals (time): Bentley 63, 73
Bishop’s Stortford
Tries (time): Rea 31 Caulfield 51, Clancy 60
Conversions (time): Banks 32, 61
Penalty Goals (time): Banks 4, 9
Referee: Mr Gareth Holsgrove
Attendance: 1580
Half time score: 14-13
Full time score: 27-25
Star man: Jonny Bentley – Chinnor
AFTER their previous outing, Chinnor RFC made a number of changes against Canterbury on Saturday (25/03), with Nathan Hannay returning to the second row, Connor Adams coming in for his debut at Nine, Junior Fatialofa at inside centre and Henry Lamont at outside centre. Luke Hibbard started on the left wing with Charlie Broughton on the right wing.
Chinnor dominated the first 10 minutes with scything runs from Burns and Pineaar taking play to the Clifton try line where a dropped pass prevented a score. Clifton’s clearance kicks relieved the pressure and enabled them to counterattack with their backs giving winger Sharp an overlap to round Chinnor’s defence and score near the post. Fly half Newey converted for a 7 – 0 lead.
This gave Clifton the confidence to run with the ball and keep the pressure in the Chinnor half with their forwards driving at the Chinnor line. Hannay was then yellow carded and from the resulting penalty and driving maul, prop Alex Giltrow grounded the ball for Clifton’s second try converted by Newey.
Five minutes later Chinnor had a second yellow card with Burns sent to the sin bin for a late tackle, leaving them with 13 players to finish the half. Chinnor responded well with probing runs from Bentley, Fatialofa and Lamont but the Clifton defence held out until half time.
Chinnor were now playing with the wind and kicked deep into Clifton territory. Full back Ian Clark caught the ball in his own 22 metre area and went on a swerving run to the half way. From the resulting loose scrum he did another penetrating venture through the Chinnor defence to put centre Sam Harrison away to score under the posts after just 3 minutes of the second half. Newey converted for a 21 – 0 lead.
With Chinnor now back to 15 players, they were into an attacking rhythm and following nine phases of play Jonny Bentley cut through a gap to score and convert his own try. A revitalised Chinnor took play back to Clifton’s try line where various forward interchanges put hooker Koree Britton over for an unconverted try.
Clifton’s attacks were annulled by replacement full back, Strang who kicked well to take play back into Clifton’s half. Clifton realised that the running game played to their strengths and soon full back Clark broke through a tackle to feed centre Malcolm Peacock who scored an unconverted try.
Driving runs by Tom Burns and Ben Manning took the game to the Clifton try line where their players were sucked into the loose scrum and a quick blind side pass put Jonny Bentley over in the corner to score an unconverted try and a score of 26 – 17.
With minutes to go, Chinnor were piling on the pressure to score a try worth 2 bonus points when they were awarded a penalty, which if converted would give Chinnor a losing bonus point. Chinnor opted to run the ball and no bonus points were achieved as the Clifton winger, Pomphrey intercepted a try scoring pass on his own line to run the length of the field to score the final try of the game converted by Newey giving Clifton a well-deserved 33 – 17 victory; their best display of the season according to their supporters. Chinnor now aim for a place in the playoffs to achieve promotion.
TEAMS:
Clifton
Clark, Pomphrey, Peacock, Harrison, Sharpe, Newey, Spencer, Bullimore, Wheeler, Giltrow, Hawkins, Uren, Luckwell, Woodward,Chesters
Interchanges: Vaughan, Edwards, Renwick, Luxton, Barnes
Chinnor
Kieran Goss, Luke Hibberd, Henry Lamont, Junior Fatialofa, Charlie Broughton, Jonny Bentley, Connor Adams, Joe Hutchinson, Koree Britton, Jay Tyack, Nathan Hannay, CJ Osazuwa, Ben Pienaar ©, Alex Bradley, Tom Burns
Interchanges: Tom Price, Jamie Townsend, Ben Manning, Ali Bone, Basil Strang
SCORERS:
Clifton
Tries (time): Sharp 13, Giltrow 29,Harrison 41, Peacock 65, Pomphrey 80
Conversions (time): Newey 14, 30, 66, 80
Penalty Goals (time):
Chinnor
Tries (time): Bentley 46, 77 Britton 53
Conversions (time): Bentley 47
Penalty Goals (time):
Referee: Lius Caviglia
Attendance: 163
Half time score: 14-0
Full time score: 33-17
Star man: Mike Uren – Clifton
THE future of cricket is in safe hands, as today the ECB (English Cricket Board) announced its brand-new programme – ‘All StarsCricket’! The initiative aims to provide thousands of five to eight year-olds with the opportunity to play cricket, meet new friends and create Big Moments. All Stars Cricket is a fun first-experience of cricket and it develops children’s skills, gets them active and provides the first steps on the National cricket pathway.
Thame Town and Tiddington Cricket Clubs have announced that their All Stars Cricket programmes will start on Friday, May 19, for eight weeks.
Matt Swain (Thame) & Lesley Pykett (Tiddington): “This is a fantastic programme the ECB has developed to support local clubs open up Cricket to younger children, similar to Rugby Tots and Little Kickers. We now have an opportunity to reach even more families and youngsters. The eight week programme is designed to incorporate parents and carers and is just £40 which includes a personalised t-shirt, cap, backpack, bat, ball, and drinks bottle.
Both clubs have decided to run the sessions on a Friday evening at different times. Parents and carers can come to the grounds and unwind after a week of work whilst the children have fun and exert some energy. The bar will be open for refreshments and the sessions at Thame Town CC will coincide with Lydia Greenways academy for Girls.”
Tiddington CC will be running their sessions from 4:30pm to 5:30pm and Thame will be running their sessions from 5:30pm to 6:15pm, this will provide people in the area a broader choice of times to fit in with their other commitments.
If you want to find out more information or register a child, go to allstarscricket.co.uk. Information video:
https://www.ecb.co.uk/tv/327845
RACQUETS Fitness Centre’s Squash Academy’s juniors were on top form last weekend, showing off their obvious potential competing in a National England Sanctioned event held at Racquets Fitness Centre.
Over the weekend of March 18-19, Racquets hosted this Bronze England Sanctioned squash tournament, attracting top juniors from all over the UK. The ability of the 45 junior entrants was as expected, wide-ranging from county level to regional and national level. Racquets its self had many juniors competing in the tournament and for most, it was their first ever England Sanctioned Tournament.
Four juniors from Racquets shone in their age categories; Ollie Ralphs in the boys Under 19s, Ollie Cartwright in the boys Under 15s, Artie Shrimpton in the boys Under 11s and Allegra Michoplou in the girls Under 11s. Ollie Ralphs competed in his first ever England Squash tournament. “Ollie has always been keen and determined to better his game,” said Head coach, Sue Martin Downhill, “and to reach his full potential. Not that long ago he suffered a terrible sports injury which put him out for months, leading to him not being able to train or even get on court and hit a ball. However, he has made a fantastic comeback and is playing some of the best squash he has ever played. Ollie played out of his skin and was keen to show what he was made of and ended up as runner-up in his age category which is a fantastic achievement. I am extremely proud Ollie has made it this far in the game and expect him to progress even further in the near future.”
Competing in the boys under 15s was Ollie Cartwright. Ollie C, a more experience player in terms of National Junior tournaments, had only recently moved up an age group meaning he was to face older, stronger and more conditioned opponents. “Ollie is improving at an alarming rate, training at racquets five or six days a week and striving to become a better player,” said Ollie’s coach, Ben Hedger. “He was unfortunate to draw the number one seed in his first round but gave the top player a good run for his money. Ollie’s mindset is impeccable and didn’t let this phase him. He continued to play his own game throughout the tournament and ended up placed third in his age category.
“I am extremely impressed in the way Ollie dealt with more accomplished opponents, and he shows high potential to do well in his age category.”
In the boys under 11s, Artie Shrimpton who placed runner-up in the Plate, and in the girls under 11s, Allegra Michoplou. Artie and Allegra joined Racquets at the same time, both showing great talent and earning their place in the Racquets Academy, where they have shown great willingness to learn. They are both down at the club nearly every day receiving free coaching from coaches Ben and Sue, as they are in the academy, alongside 10 other juniors. This was also their first ever England Squash tournament. They have both only been playing seriously for about four months which goes to show the rapid rate of improvement they have achieved – both great prospects for the future. “They and are great role models for other juniors at Racquets,” added Sue.
For more information about playing squash, whether a youngster starting out, or starting later in life, contact Sue, Simon or Ben at Racquets Fitness Centre on 01844 261754.
SOURCE: Contributed by Ben Hedger
EVERY for to six weeks Racquets Fitness Centre runs a one-day Junior Squash Tournament. New and experienced junior players from the club are encouraged to enter. We see great changes in the juniors from one tournament to the next.
Cameron Law was one such example. Cameron played in his first one-day tournament in January of this year. He played in a group of players all of similar standard where he struggled, finishing near the bottom of the section.
For the past two months with regular coaching from Roger Ridler and joining in the group coaching sessions on a Monday every week, Cameron has worked hard and with dedication has gained in confidence and playing ability.
Cameron played on Saturday, March 18, in the second level of standard. He showed all the other players what a great style and understanding of the game can achieve. Cameron won all of his games. Many of the games were close but Cameron’s strong mind set this time round meant he came out on top in every match. Alex Glover and Thomas Taylor were both notable in their attempt to derail Cameron’s win but were unsuccessful.
Well done Cameron !!
The lower grade included eight of the newest Racquets Academy kids. From St Josephs and John Hampden primary schools we saw plenty of extremely close matches. Joe Johnson and Artie Shrimpton fell to the floor at the end of their first place final match because it was such a long and hard fought contest. Joe came out on top in a perfectly spirited competitive game. Allegra Michopoulou, the only girl in the competition, fought well to come in third.
In the top grade the visitors, Sam Crowley and Alex Smith from Abingdon took the top places. But Dryw McLaren and Silas Glover put up excellent fights.
The Racquets Academy has two places available at the moment for any Year 5 or 6 children who want to take up a sport and have the opportunity to excel in it. Please contact sue@racquets-fitness-centre.com if you might be interested. If you’re looking for a sport just for fun then please come along to any of our squash lessons available throughout the week.
A squad of swimmers from Thame Swimming Club ventured to Watford for the annual Regional Qualifier meet over the weekend of March 18-19, and came home with delighted with a string of Personal Bests and wins.
“Those swimming on the Saturday were lucky enough to enjoy a lie-in as the meet didn’t start until 1pm so the swimmers were lively and raring to go once the event got underway,” said club spokesperson Michele Block. “Sadly this wasn’t the case for those swimming on Sunday with another more usual early start!” Here’s Michele’s full report:
Team Thame enjoyed a great weekend of racing against a very competitive field from much larger clubs, with all the team’s swimmers coming home with at least one PB and most with multiple PBs, which was a fantastic result!
Outstanding moments from the weekend are highlighted below:
* An awesome opening swim for Murray Wakefield, knocking 14 secs of his 400 Free, having only just set his ‘old’ PB at Counties in February!
* In the 200 IM, the Group 3 girls – Tabitha, Maya and Flora all got impressive PBs with an eye on trying to move up a lane in training (a very canny
lane ordering system introduced by Simon Haarburger!)
* Josh Williams went a fantastic sub 2 minutes for the first time in his 200 Free, which ranks him top of the South East Region and 13th in the whole
of Great Britain in this distance for his age group. Wow – what a phenomenal achievement; well done Josh! Josh also takes the top place in the SE
Region for his 400m Free PB of 4.15.74.
* George Pearson, our sole Group 1 swimmer on Saturday, knocked an amazing 5 seconds off his 50 Fly (also getting PBS in 100 Fly and 200 Fly – no
guessing his favourite stroke!)
* Joshua Greig powered to a PB of 29.56 in his 50 Free, his first sub-30 second time at this event – fabulous!
* Oscar North picked up four Regional Consideration Times for 400 Free, 50 Fly and 200 Free and 100 Free – great work Oscar.
* Katelin Phillips for an outstanding 400 Free swim, knocking a whopping 25 seconds off her previous PB, way to go! Katelin also went sub 40 for the
first time on her 50 Fly with a time of 38.81.
* Maya Camp for fabulously swimming sub 3 minutes for the first time in her 200 Backstroke (2.54.21) – awesome swimming Maya.
Our Club was congratulated by some of the Watford Marshals for having such a lovely, polite and punctual squad of swimmers – so thank you to you all for being so fabulous!
Thanks to Paul Williams, Emma Camp, Rachel Humphreys and Emma Day for officiating and to our ever supportive coaches Ian Blyth and Iain Phillips for all their encouragement. It was a rare outing for Michele Block as Team Manager (usually officiating!), helped by our new recruit, Damian Wakefield – we had a great time – thanks to all the swimmers there who threw themselves into cheering and supporting each other – what a Team!
HEAD squash coach at Racquet Fitness Centre in Thame, Sue Martin Downhill, is determined to spread the word that squash is a great game for ladies. “For mums they just need someone to look after the kids!” She says.
And to prove it, last Sunday, March 12, Racquets held a Ladies Squash Festival – an opportunity for ladies of all ages to visit the club, try out the game and socialise with other ladies who have already discovered that squash is great exercise and fun. Coach, Roger Ridler was on hand to help any ladies who had never been on the court before.
“Roger’s gentle approach allows ladies to conquer the fear of walking on the court for the first time,” explained Sue. “Using a bright orange, bouncy ball he helped a few learn how to hit the ball and to serve and after only a short while all the ladies were able to play the game. Some ladies on the court for the first time were able to progress from the orange to the blue and then onto the symbolic ‘single yellow dot’ squash ball. Everyone learns at their own pace and there are other ladies looking for games with other ladies who are at the same stage of learning.
“We find that many ladies are afraid that they might make a fool of themselves on court. After only a few minutes on court though they realise that there are plenty of others in the same boat and I find that everyone laughing at the strange things we do when faced with an oncoming ball is the best way to rid ourselves of the fear; just get in there and give it a go.”
While the ladies were playing squash, the club ran a Creation Station workshop for the kids and a crèche for the very little ones. So the mums could bring their kids along and know that they were in good hands and enjoying themselves too.
Mary Frew, whose husband has played regularly for years but has only just taken up the game, said: “I had a brilliant time at the ladies squash festival. It was a great mix of friendly games and drills to keep us all sharp. The best thing was the amazing atmosphere and laughter. It was great to spend my birthday today with some of the fantastic ladies that I have made friends with through group coaching at Racquets, and to be joined by other friends trying the game for the first time or remembering it after 15 years away from squash. The kids all loved it too. Thank you Sue and Simon for organising!”
Denise Caley only had one hour to play because of mother duties but still managed to get plenty of squash in. Denise has only been playing for two weeks but said; “The kids didn’t want to leave and neither did I. Thanks indeed for organising this brilliant event.”
Sue concluded that Racquets were grateful to England Squash and South Oxfordshire District Council for the #SquashGirlsCan funding which allowed the club to offer so much on the day.
