Category: Sports News

CHINNOR RFC kept up their unbeaten start to the season with a six-try victory over Bury St Edmunds on Saturday (22/10), though it was not all one way as a spirited Bury side put Chinnor under some pressure in the second half and scored two good tries as a result.

Chinnor boss, Matt Williams, gave credit to the losers: “That was perhaps the toughest match up-front we have had this season. Bury played with a lot of endeavour and gave us a tough time.”

A badly palmed lineout ball by Bury saw Ross Parkins reach the ball quickest for Chinnor’s first try early on. Bury staunched wave after wave of Chinnor attack until CJ Osazuwa pounced on a loose ruck ball and pirouetted over for the score. Conversions and a penalty goal from Sam Angell saw Chinnor go in 17-0 at the interval. Chinnor looked to have the match well controlled despite Bury’s persistence.

Chinnor came out smartly in the second half with Hannay and then Burns crossing the whitewash in the first few minutes of play. Bury then made a contest of it for the next 10 minutes, camping out in the Chinnor 22 without reward until a midfield break saw Frost put Shaq Meyers away for Bury’s first score. Chinnor’s Goss then danced through three defenders for Chinnor’s fifth. Bury came back with another siege of the Chinnor line with Ben Enoka eventually going over.

In the dying minutes, the long legged Hannay ate up half the pitch before offloading to the electric Lamont who put skipper Armitage in for Chinnor’s sixth try of the day. Angell completed a faultless kicking performance for a 45-14 victory to the Thame boys.

Bury coach Gavin Hogg was sanguine about his team’s performance: “We met a side who took their chances clinically. Chinnor managed possession better and we were guilty of losing the ball too often and they always punish any mistake severely. We take heart from a good period in the second half where we scored twice and put Chinnor under prolonged pressure.”

Chinnor’s Matt Williams was pleased with his team’s defence: “We did well not to concede a score in the first 25 minutes and, once the bonus point try was scored, we became a little loose but, all in all, an efficient workmanlike performance.”

TEAMS

Chinnor – Steve Castle, Kieran Goss, Danny Barnes (Hopkin 65), Bevon Armitage ©, Henry Lamont, Sam Angell, Greg Goodfellow, Ricky Cano (Darlington 63), Jamie Townsend, Jay Tyack (Price 52), Nathan Hannay, CJ Osazuwa (Thorpe 63), Ross Parkins, Gus Jones (Manning 55), Tom Burns (YC 33-43) (Osazuwa 79)
Interchanges: Tom Price, Andy Darlington, Ben Manning, Richard Thorpe, Bertie Hopkin

Bury St Edmunds – Chris Lord, Jacob Bodkin, Connor O’Reilly (Meyers 43), Tom Rock, Chris Snelling, Liam McBride ©, Harry Anderson-Brown, Luke Palmer (Trinder 40), Alex Rayment (Collins 26-42), Cai Griffiths (Bingham 40), Matt Edison, Ben Turner (Palmer 71), Sam Bixby (Enoka 52), Sean Stapleton, Maku Koroiyadi (Collins 50)
Interchanges: Nick Bingham, Toby Trinder, Dan Collins, Ben Enoka, Shaq Meyers

SCORERS

Chinnor – Tries (time): Jones 4, Osazuwa 21, Hannay 43, Burns 46, Goss 63, Armitage 77
Conversions (time): Angell 5, 22, 44, 47, 64, 77 Penalty Goals (time): Angell 13
Bury St Edmunds Tries (time): Meyers 59, Enoka 71
Conversions (time): McBride 59, 72 Penalty Goals (time):

Referee: Andrew MacNeaney Attendance: 346 Half time score: 17-0 Full time score: 45-14 Star man: Nathan Hannay (Chinnor)

SATURDAY, October 15, saw a squad fromThame Swimming Club head for the Natalie Barry Open Meet at Bletchley Swimming Club – and come home as champions!

Natalie Barry was a young, fit and healthy Bletchley & District Swimming Club swimmer who represented her club many times. After a normal day and evening she went to bed like she did every other night but sadly this was her last day as she did not wake from her sleep – so to honour her short life the Natalie Barry Gala was put together.

Four other clubs joined Thame at Bletchley for a great day of competitive swimming. With many of Thame’s swimmers having competed a few weeks prior, there was a lot of talk about pb’s and medals. With determination in their eyes, one by one they took to the blocks. With many of them taking seconds off their entry times it was great to see so many smiling faces in camp Thame. Notable swims were evident from many of our swimmers with a special mention to Matthew Stamp for taking a fabulous 11 seconds off his 100m breaststroke PB time.

With the medal table growing race by race, Thame found themselves in second place over all by the end of Session two. As Session three got under way the, swimmers did what they do best and that’s swim their hearts out. As the last event of the day got underway, two of Thame’s Group two swimmers took to the starting blocks for the 50m freestyle grudge match.
Murray Wakefield and Szymon Siuta were entered with almost identical entry times and thus were placed side-by-side in Lanes six and seven. With both swimmers turning together at the 25m mark, they were neck-and-neck all the way to the finish with Murray just pipping Szymon to the post in a time of 35.09 to Szymon’s 35.72. It was a great race that saw every Thame swimmer shouting them on all the way.

Marcus Birmingham brought the day to a close with a blistering 50m freestyle swim taking Gold in a time of 26.76.

All that was left was to wait for the final team results to come in … So can we all stand and give all 36 swimmers a big round of applause and congratulate them in becoming the 2016 Natalie Barry Open Champions. Yes we won!

A Thame Swiming Pool spokesperson said: “We would like to thank coaches Iain Phillips, Karen Powell and Lucy North and Team Manager Geraldine Dodds – along with all the officials and time keepers for making it possible for Thame to bring a fantastic squad to this worthwhile gala.”

SOURCE: Contributed by Iain Phillips –

THE Chinnor pack were dominant throughout the game, with their powerful scrummage causing Barnes many problems, as Chinnor fashioned a 61-28 win away at Barnes.

The visitors superiority was illustrated early on, when, from a second rolling maul in quick succession, the ball was laid back for Greg Goodfellow to put Danny Barnes in for the first try after just two minutes. With most of the action in Barnes territory, Chinnor squandered a few opportunities before setting up a scrummage just metres out from the try line. With Barnes collapsing the scrum a number of times, the referee had no alternative but to award a penalty try.

The game then opened up which suited Barnes. They showed they are quick on the counter attack and can move the ball skilfully at pace.This was illustrated when in the space of three minutes, they scored two tries.The first by their elusive centre Tom O’Toole, followed by Ciaran Smith exploiting a bit of sloppiness by Chinnor to go over for the second. Both were converted by O’Toole.

It was then Chinnor’s turn to defend. During this five minute phase they illustrated why they have the best defensive record in the league, showing formidable organisation and commitment.This had its reward, when after breaking out, Junior Fatialofa took his man on the outside to go over just on the stroke of half-time. With Bertie Hopkin adding the conversion from the touchline, Chinnor lead 19-14 at the interval.

Chinnor took control straight from the restart when first Kieran Goss sprinted over from a well worked move, quickly followed by George Messum, forcing his way over. When C.J Osazuwa scored in similar fashion minutes later and Bertie Hopkin converting all three, Chinnor had scored 21 points in a ten minute spell and it was game over. Barnes showed a lot of spirit when, after this onslaught, O’Toole scored from long range and converted his try. George Messum then powered his way over for his second try, again converted by Hopkin. Barnes were not to be denied and a delightful chip over the Chinnor defence by Jamie Collins bounced kindly and put him in for Barnes’ fourth try and bonus point. O’Toole added the extras.
With Bevon Armitage scoring and then setting up Tom Price to go over under the posts, Chinnor had added another nine tries to their already formidable total. Bertie Hopkin, in converting these last two, had kicked 8 out of 9 possible conversions.

Chinnor’s fitness, power and organisation once again showed through. George Messum’s presence in defence and with ball in hand was immense. His all-round presence in the side will be missed as he leaves rugby. We wish him well in his new career.
This was an impressive win for Chinnor but many sides will go to Barnes this season and come away second best.

CHINNOR RFC, scoring 13 tries in their 83-7 victory over Exmouth, took top spot in National 2 South as leaders, Taunton, were comprehensively beaten at home by the league’s only other undefeated side, Old Elthamians.

Compared to the second half, it was a slow start by both sides. Chinnor opened with Luke Hibberd’s first try (of 4) on 9 minutes but Exmouth came back in their best spell of the match and went into a 7-5 lead on 24 minutes, courtesy of a well worked rolling maul, Charlie Gibbings touching down and George Meadows converting. This stung Chinnor into action and, with Greg Goodfellow down the blind side and Henry Lamont through the centre, two quick tries put the home side 17-7 ahead. A midfield barnstorming run, one of several on the day, by CJ Osazuwa finished with an exquisite backhand pass to see Bevon Armitage go over for the bonus point try. Bertie Hopkin’s conversions saw Chinnor go in 24-7 ahead at the break.

The floodgates opened in the second half with Luke Hibberd adding three more tries. Henry Lamont got his hat trick with two length of the field efforts in the last two minutes of play. The best try of the half came from another midfield break by CJ Osazuwa, speedily supported by his second row partner, Nathan Hannay, who unselfishly allowed Luke Hibberd in for his fourth. Further tries from Bertie Hopkin, Danny Barnes, CJ Osazuwa and Tom Burns punished the luckless Exmouth further.

Exmouth, newly promoted, have had the misfortune to play all their early matches against teams at the top of the league and suffered again today. They play with heart and will adjust to the pace of the game as they meet lower placed teams in the league. On the day, Chinnor’s greater speed of thought plus a dominant pack, saw the Cockles ship more points than they would like. At this time last season, Chinnor were little better.

It took Chinnor 30 minutes to overcome the resolute visitors from South Devon but it then began to be one way traffic with wingers Luke Hibberd and Henry Lamont scoring 7 tries between them. George Messum, in his last home match for Chinnor (job relocation) showed the home fans how much they will miss him with his usual rumbustious, energetic display. CJ Osazuwa, with a startling number of midfield breaks, gave the large home crowd a hint of what Usain Bolt might look like as a rugby player and is this week’s Star Player.

It will be fireworks on November 5, as the league’s two undefeated sides go head-to-head with Chinnor at home to Old Elthamians.

Teams

Chinnor
Kieran Goss, Luke Hibberd, Danny Barnes, Bevon Armitage (c), Henry Lamont, Bertie Hopkin, Greg Goodfellow, Tom Price, Jon Phipps, Andy Berry, Nathan Hannay, CJ Osazuwa, Alex Waddingham, George Messum,Tom Burns

Interchanges: Andy Darlington, Jamie Townsend, Gus Jones, Sam Miller, Junior Fatialofa

Exmouth
Dan Powell, Jack Downie, Rob Gurnett, Tom Bedford, Harvey Ridgeway, George Meadows, Lloyd Watkins, George Savage, Charlie Gibbings, Isaac Dalton, Jack Fahy (c), Milo Reynolds, Mike Richards, James Harris, Sam Thomas

Interchanges: Chris Gibbons, Ben Wonnacott, Aaron Thompson, Stuart Lowe, Sam Conway

Scorers

Chinnor
Tries (time): Hibberd (9, 45, 57, 76), Goodfellow (27), Lamont (36, 79, 80), Armitage (38), Osazuwa (47), Barnes (52), Hopkin (54), Burns (67)
Conversions (time): Hopkin (28, 40, 45, 48, 52, 55, 68, 77, 80)
Penalty Goals (time):

Exmouth
Tries (time): Gibbings (23)
Conversions (time): Meadows (24)
Penalty Goals (time):
Referee: Thomas Davis
Attendance: 420
Half time score: 24-7
Full time score: 83-7
Star man: CJ Osazuwa

SOURCE: Contributed by Bill O’Donnell

TALENTED squash players from Raquets in Thame came away from the recent Oxfordshire Squash County Championships, with three victories, including that of Ben Hedger, who is now the under 19s, County Champion, ranking him 25th in the England Squash rankings in his age group.

Over the weekend of September 25-26, at Abingdon Squash club, talented juniors from across the whole of Oxfordshire competed for their spots in the county squad for their age group. Ben Hedger, aged 18, has been playing squash at a highly competitive standard since the age of just eight years old, when he first started playing in England Squash tournaments across the country, the first being the Oxfordshire County Championships. In the past couple of years, he has started to really improve and excel in his game, training on a daily basis at Thame Racquets Fitness Centre. He is now currently training full-time with the aim of turning his passion for the game into a career as a professional.

Ben’s early potential continued to develope and when he was 10 years-old he started to overcome the other players in Oxfordshire in his age group, and has won the County Championships every year ever since. In 2016, Ben hoped to play his best squash for his last ever Junior County Championships, before moving on to the far stronger county seniors. Competing for his place in the under 19s boys county squad, where there were potential threats to take his title, Ben proved to have the edge over his fellow competitors, pulled through and took the title of Oxfordshire County Champion under 19s, without dropping a single game for the final time.

Simon Martin, Ben’s primary coach said: “I am extremely proud of Ben’s achievements and love to see his hard work and dedication to the game paying off. He shows real determination on and off the court and is always working hard to improve his game wherever he can.”

Alongside Ben, Emily Coulcher Porter and Oliver Coulcher-Porter also competed in the Oxfordshire County Championships, Oliver currently with an England Squash Ranking of seven in the under 11s, and Emily with an England Squash Ranking of 16 in the girls under 11s at only 8 years of age. Emily and Oliver proved to possess too much skill and talent for their opponents to handle, ultimately leading to them taking the Oxfordshire County Championships title for their age groups. Furthermore, both Emily and Oliver did so without dropping a single game to their opponents.

Not only did Racquets achieve three victories at the Oxfordshire County Championships, but Luke Hayes achieved an astonishing second place in the boys under 11s after only taking up squash seriously in the past year. Ollie Cartwright also gained a fantastic achievement in coming third in the boys under 13s, also taking squash seriously at a high standard for just under a year.

Sue Martin-Downhill, head junior coach said: “What an astonishing achievement for these two up and coming players! They have improved at such a rapid rate these past two years and I am very excited to see where squash takes these two in the following years to come.”

Ben is also hoping to inspire people of all ages, all standards, squash players and non squash players to participate in squash on a regular basis. He is now a fully qualified Level 1 squash coach and is taking all junior coaching sessions after school time, and all adult training sessions in the evening.

For information about playing squash from a young age – or starting later in life, contact Sue, Simon or Ben at Racquets Fitness Centre on 01844 261754.

A squad of swimmers from Thame Swimming Club did themselves proud competing at the Maxwell Level Three October Meet over the weekend of October 1-2, at Aqua Vale in Aylesbury.

Supported by Head Coach Ian Blyth and Group 2/2+ Coach, Mark Simms, the swimmers rose to the occasion and put in some very impressive swims with new PBs being achieved and for some, first-ever times being registered.

Delighted club spokesperson, Helen Williams, said: “Huge congratulations to all our swimmers of whom we are very proud but special mentions must go out to the following swimmers:

· Katelin Phillips: for taking a whopping 44 seconds off her 400 Freestyle time and to Elizabeth Humphreys for achieving a County Accepted
time in the same even.
· Lucy Block: for achieving a County Accepted time for her 200m Backstroke and a County Considered time for 400IM (not bad given it was the
first time Lucy had ever swum this race!!).
· Martha Block: for knocking an impressive four seconds off her 50 Free time having taking 10 seconds off at BBAT only tqo weeks ago. Way to
go Martha!
· Ben Williams: achieving a Winter Regional consideration time for his 100 Backstroke
· Ella Simms: taking a brilliant 17 seconds off her previous 400 IM time and achieving a County Considered time in the process.
· Louis Bolton: taking an amazing 18 seconds off his 200 IM
· Flora Kershaw: taking a fabulous 13 seconds off her 100 Backstroke
· Murray Wakefield: for achieving a much sought after sub-40 seconds for his 50 Fly J Murray also achieved a 12 second PB on his 400 Free
having only just taken nine seconds off at BBAT!
· Josh Williams: achieving a County Accepted time for his 200 Backstroke and to Elliot Riley-Brown for achieving County Considered time for
his 100 Backstroke.

“Thank you to all our fabulous officials who volunteered their time to ensure that our swimmers times counted … Paul Williams, Emma Camp, Sue Hewett, Rachel Humphreys and Brian Pridmore. Huge congratulations to Emma Camp for passing her J1 officials assessment. Thank you to Melissa Simms and Michele Block for Team Managing so fabulously on the Saturday too.

THIS week is Women In Sport week, and to help celebrate, Thame Leisure Centre is offering free classes between October 3 – 9, along with other sports centres in South Oxfordshire and The Vale.

Thame is offering the following sports during the week:

Group Cycle/Spin – Wednesday, October 5 – 09.25-10.25
Combat – Thursday, October 6 – 19.15-20.00
Aqua -Thursday – 19.00-20.00

For more information and to claim your free pass please contact bettercommunities@GLL.ORG or call Emma Freeman on 07801 203550; Subject to availability within classes. You must pre book using the above contact details.

ALWAYS a stern test at Sonning, Chinnor RFC left it late to overcome Redigensians 32-17 on Saturday, October 1, to maintain their winning start to the season.

Rams went into an early lead with a penalty goal by Atkins. Chinnor then began to build pressure in Rams’ half with a series of attacks in the 22. They foundered on stiff resistance until Kieron Goss found a hole for Chinnor’s first try after 18 minutes. Chinnor continued building attacks in Rams’ 22 and were rewarded a few minutes later when Danny Barnes, out wide slowly strolled over unopposed for Chinnor’s second try, converted by Bertie Hopkin. With Rams’ Vooght yellow carded for scooping the ball back from a ruck, Hopkin increased the Chinnor lead to 15-3 from a penalty goal. Barnes then went over for Chinnor’s third, expertly diving full length to field the ball and then casually getting up to dot down for a 20-3 lead. Rams then began to get more into the match and a series of quick rucks ended with Dan Sanders crashing over for Rams’ first try just as the half finished. With Atkins conversion, the visitors held a 20-10 half time lead.

Clearly heartened by their first score, Rams began to dominate territory. A series of scrums near the Chinnor line saw the home pack begin to dominate and force a series of scrum penalties. The referee, Mr Lewars, then lost patience and sin binned Chinnor’s Jay Tyack for collapsing the scrum. From the next scrum, Rams’ No 8 picked up and barrelled over for Rams’ second try. Atkins’ conversion narrowed the score to 17-20. Momentum was now clearly with Rams, particularly with their dominant scrum. However, Chinnor’s introduction of prop Andy Berry immediately evened up the scrum and Chinnor began to attack again. A long period of Chinnor possession ended with skipper Bevon Armitage bursting through to dot down Chinnor’s bonus point try on 59 minutes. Hopkin’s conversion eased the pressure further. The last 10 minutes were all Chinnor against a valiant home defence in the 22. The dam broke when Messum picked from the back of a ruck and went straight through it to score Chinnor’s fifth for a 32-17 victory.

Redingensians Rams always give Chinnor a tough day at the office and this was no exception. Seeming to start to build a big score, Rams came back hard to narrow the gap to just three points. Their strengthening scrum was looking worrying until Andy Berry came on to shore up the Chinnor scrum most effectively and help swing the match back towards Chinnor. Again, Chinnor’s defence was instrumental in gaining the victory. Midfield defence and a hustling back row gave Chinnor the edge. However, Nathan Hannay’s grappling skills in the maul often blunted a potent Rams weapon and earns him Man of the Match laurels.

Teams

Redingensians
Joe Duffelen, Jak Rossiter, Steve Bryant, Dan Barnes, Sean McDermottroe, Jacob Atkins, Chico U’Chong, Matt Weller, Ben Henderson, Sean McDonnell-Roberts, Ollie Taylor, Tom Bryson, Samir Kharbouch, Tom Vooght, Robbie Stapley

Interchanges: Ross Crame, Jack Steadman, Justin Allen, Andy Amor, Dan Sanders

Chinnor
Kieran Goss, Danny Barnes, Bevon Armitage, Junior Fatialofa, Henry Lamont, Bertie Hopkin, Frank Jones, Ricky Cano, Jamie Townsend, Jay Tyack, Nathan Hannay, CJ Osazuwa, Richard Thorpe, George Messum, Tom Burns

Interchanges: Andy Berry, Jon Phipps, Tom Price, Greg Goodfellow, Luke Hibberd

Scorers

Redingensians
Tries (time): Sanders (38), Stapley (52)
Conversions (time): Atkins (39, 53)
Penalty Goals (time): Atkins (5)

Chinnor
Tries (time): Goss (18), Barnes (24, 31), Armitage (59), Messum (77)
Conversions (time): Hopkin (25, 61)
Penalty Goals (time): Hopkin (28)
Referee: Jack Lewars
Attendance: 309
Half time score: 10-20
Full time score: 17-32
Star Player: Nathan Hannay (Chinnor)

SOURCE: Contributed

ARE you over 60 or know someone in this age group who would like to join a very social, local, gentle gym session in Thame?

Racquets Fitness Centre in Thame is starting a Healthy Hearts class for 60-90 year olds on Mondays at 11am.

Sue Martin Downhill of Racquets explained: “I see so many older people struggling to walk through town and this class will help them get that little bit more mobile. I’ve watched my dad going to this type of class twice a week – and he has gone from not being able to walk outside at all to walking the full length of Eastbourne promenade with very little effort!

“It’s a social opportunity too – the group last week had a coffee afterwards and are intending for this to happen every week.”

Contact Sue via Racquets on: 01844 261754