Category: Sports News

IN a match much affected by fierce winds, Chinnor overcame Barnes in their first ever league meeting by 35-25.

After a penalty goal to the visitors by O’Toole, Chinnor began to dominate scoring in the first half hour, with three tries. Oliver went over after a series of goal line pick and drives. Goodfellow bamboozled the Barnes defence by running in a try from half way, dancing in the tram lines throughout.The third try in the sequence was probably the best of the match when Adams broke through, off loaded to Fatialofa who, under pressure, slipped the ball in the tackle to Manning who dotted down for a 15-3 lead to Chinnor.

Fortunes then dramatically reversed and Barnes ran in their own trio of tries in a 7 minute purple patch with Lewis, Alteirac and O’Toole scoring. O’Toole’s conversion at the break gave Barnes a 20-15 lead. Chinnor levelled on 52 minutes with a try from Oscar Heath. Hopkin’s wind defying conversion gave Chinnor a 22-20 lead. Barnes benefitted from a Chinnor kick that went dead in goal and brought play back to the Chinnor 22. From the scrum, Barnes pressure down the right brought a try from Cornish to complete the visitors scoring for the afternoon and a three point lead.

Chinnor, through Hopkin, then used the gusting wind at their backs to score two long range penalty goals for a 28-25 lead. A few minutes before full time, Adams carved straight through the visitor’s defence for try under the posts. Hopkin’s conversion closed the match out for a 35-25 victory for Chinnor.

This was a curious match in which Chinnor showed dominance for most of the match except for a 7 minute deep sleep in which Barnes scored three tries.

Barnes to their credit never kicked the ball and kept it in hand throughout. Whether it was adapting to the strong wind or the desire to play a high tempo game, it produced a great spectacle for those on the touch line.

The Chinnor pack were strong and resolute. Adams’ influence was evident in the scoring of two top quality tries. However the astonishing work rate of Ben Manning made the biggest contribution to the victory. His lung busting support run to score the third try was particularly special.

Teams

Chinnor
Oscar Heath, Marcus Beer, Jack Adams, Junior Fatialofa, Salva Lloret, Bertie Hopkin, Greg Goodfellow , Andy Berry, Mark Darlington, Jay Tyack, Darren Oliver, Tom Burns, Ben Manning, James Tyas ©, Joe Vandermolen

Interchanges: Andy Darlington, Jamie Townsend, Andy Tibbatts, Frank Jones, Jake Olley

Barnes
Tom O’Toole, James Greenwood, Daniel Holmes, David Butler, Kristopher Cottenden, Gareth Williams-Davies, Hamish Reeves, Tom Galvin, Edouard Alterac, Richard Matthews ©, Alexander Crane, Jamie Collins, Richard Mortimer, Robert Malaney, Rupert Crossland

Interchanges: Tom McArthur, William Armitage, Thomas Kynge, Jack Franklin, Matthew Cornish

Scorers

Chinnor
Tries (time): Oliver (14), Goodfellow (25), Manning (31), Heath (52), Adams (74)
Conversions (time): Hopkin 53, 75)
Penalty Goals (time): Hopkin (65, 68)

Barnes
Tries (time): Lewis (33), Alteirac (37), O’Toole (40)
Conversions (time): O’Toole (40)
Penalty Goals (time): (O’Toole)

Referee: Neil Chivers
Attendance: 288
Half time score: 15-20
Full time score: 35-25
Star man: Ben Manning (Chinnor)

THAME swimming club is growing and growing and the members achieving some great things in the pool. Helen Williams gives a flavour of the what has been achieved this year, with here take on the club Champions of 2015:

OVERALL we had just under 100 swimmers and some 85% of the Club take part in at least one or more race, which is a significant uptake in participation on previous years!  We also had representation from each of our Groups from Group 1 right through to Masters, so a massive ‘well done’ to all the swimmers who took part and who made the Championships the success it was.

We kicked off on Sunday November 15, with the 400m Freestyle and 400m IM for both the girls and boys with new County Accepted times being achieved for Sam White and Oscar North for their 400 Free, and Josh and Ben Williams for their 400 IM.  There were some fabulous PBs in evidence too, so special call out to the following swimmers who knocked a whopping one minute or more off their previous times:  Joshua Greig, Lucy Block, Laura Creswell and Kaycia Socrates.

Next, Sunday, November 22, was the 800m for the girls and 1500m for the boys with Elizabeth Humphreys bringing home First place overall for the girls and Ben Williams for the boys.  There were some amazing PBs in evidence here too, so again ‘well done’ to the following swimmers who knocked over a minute or more off their previous best times:  Hazel Randall, Elizabeth Humphreys, Zoe Cooke, Isobel Nelson, Ellen Ludlow, Jo Hewitt, Josh Williams, Elliot Riley-Brown, Hallam Cozier, Rory Pridmore and Henry Bell.

Club Championships

The main event was the full day Club Championships on Sunday, November 29, and what a fabulous day of swimming it was! Full of fantastic swims and lots of personal bests too.  A massive well done to every swimmer, especially to all those for whom it was their very first gala.  There was very little time between races so kudos to all the swimmers who kept their energy and motivation levels up.

New for 2015 was the Will Finch Breaststroke Canon Relay in memory of Thame Swimming Club swimmer, Will Finch, who very sadly passed away earlier this year. What a fitting tribute race it was too with 50 of our swimmers (in five teams of 10) each swimming 25m breaststroke in canon style to celebrate Will’s favourite stroke.  Fitting too that George Finch brought his team home to win overall with each swimmer winning a £10 voucher. Well done to all those who took part and to those who cheered and made lots of noise during the race too!

Club Champs also saw the second year of the Tom Birmingham Skins event in memory of coach Tom Birmingham who passed away in 2014.  The event was as nerve wracking and exciting as ever, as the top five swimmers from the 200IM competed against each other in an elimination style challenge … would it be breast, back, fly or free pulled out of the hat?!  For the girls Kaycia Socrates, Lily Hawkes, Maisie Randall, Laura Cresswell and Ella Simms all competed, with Ella just pipping Laura to win the trophy.  For the boys it was Hallam Cozier, Elliot Riley-Brown, Josh Williams, Ben Williams and Harry Block with Harry also just pipping Ben to the top spot!  Well done again to all the swimmers!

As a special call-out I would like to highlight that it was Elizabeth Smith’s (one of the Club’s very first swimmers) last gala for Thame Swimming Club so good luck Lizzie for the future.

Homemade treats and special thanks

Thank you to all the parents who baked such delicious cakes and to all the parents/children who bought and enjoyed them too.  I’d like to thank Colin Gibbs for running the stall which made a massive £150 in total!  Thanks also to Rachel Humphreys for supplying the deliciously tasty homemade apple juice.

This is the first time we have run a ‘licensed’ meet and as ever, such an event cannot take place without all the support of the parent volunteers and officials, so many thanks to everyone who helped to make Club Champs the success it was.  A special call out to Wendy Randall for being lead referee overall for the  gala, supported by referee Mark Simms – without either of them we would not have been able to run this gala.  Thank you also to all the coaching staff, under the leadership of Ian Blyth who encouraged their swimmers throughout the Championship and to our Chairman, Simon Haarburger for orchestrating the whole event!

We now look forward to a fabulous Awards Evening on Saturday 30^th January 2016 to celebrate everyone’s success.

CHINNOR started with a strong cross wind in their favour and tackled well to prevent Old E’s from crossing the gain line and keeping most of the play in the opposition’s half. Chinnor then took an early lead winning quick line out ball for the three quarters to use a miss move to put full back, Ollie Heath through a gap for an unconverted try.

Chinnor’s enthusiasm resulted in a penalty to Old E’s who kicked deep into Chinnor’s 22m area. A driving maul from the resulting line out put their No 8, Nelmes over for a try converted by full back White.

An Old E’s error on the half way line enabled Jack Adams to flick the ball between his legs to winger Jake Olley who sprinted to the line to score Chinnor’s second try converted by Heath.

Old E’s were unfortunate not to score just before half time but the disallowed try was deemed to involve a double movement of the ball so Chinnor led 12 – 7 at the interval.

Old E’s started well in the second half when a Chinnor penalty failed to make touch allowing their winger to weave his way into the Chinnor half. From the resulting maul Old E’s used the wind to kick deep into Chinnor’s try line and their winger Dowsett won the race to the touch down for an unconverted try. For the next 20 minutes Old E’s used high kicks and grubber kicks to pin Chinnor in their own 22m area and forcing lineouts from which their forwards drove over to score two tries for Rudland-Thomas and Culllen. White kicked one conversion and later a penalty to create a 27 – 12 lead for the home team.

Chinnor then replied with determined running and second phase handling for a good five minutes. Eventually centre Alex Dancer found a gap to score under the posts with Heath being successful with the conversion. With just 5 minutes to go there was not enough time for Chinnor to score again to earn themselves a losing bonus point. Old Elthamians ran out worthy winners 27 – 19 points.

SOURCE: Contributed

CHINNOR RFC played with the elements in the first half and camped themselves firmly in the Worthing half for the first 20 minutes. Chinnor’s driving mauls resulted in a penalty converted by No 9 Greg Goodfellow, then quick handling put full back Keiron Goss over for an unconverted try.

Worthing’s first venture into Chinnor’s territory earned them a penalty converted by fly half O’Hagan. Chinnor were able to stifle further Worthing attacks near the try line preventing them from scoring. Chinnor then kicked deep into Worthing’s half and created a rolling maul from the lineout allowing Ben Manning to carve his way through the defence to score under the post. Goodfellow converted the try. Just before half time Worthing were successful in driving to the Chinnor line for James to score a try converted by O’Hagan reducing Chinnor’s lead to 10 – 15 at the interval.

Worthing now had the wind and rain in their favour and pressurised Chinnor into making mistakes and giving away two penalties converted by O’Hagan and giving them a 1 point lead. Play and possession were fairly even between the two sides though Chinnor attacks were spoiled by handling errors caused by the wet conditions.
With 20 minutes to go Worthing put in a high cross field kick bouncing tantalisingly away from the Chinnor defence in the in-goal area. Worthing full back McLean pounced on this opportunity to score a try converted by O’Hagan.

Worthing then used the wind to good effect by kicking the ball deep into Chinnor’s half and putting them on the back foot until the final whistle and giving Worthing a 23 – 15 victory.

SOURCE: Contributed by Bill O’Donnell

RACQUETS Squash Academy in Thame will be hosting a Bronze Sanctioned Junior Open Tournament over the weekend December 11-13.

The categories wilL be Mixed Under 11s/Girls, Under 13s/Boys, Under 13s/Girls, Under 15s/Boys, Under 15s/Girls, Under 17s/Boys and Under 17s.

Entries close on Tuesday, December 1. To book a place, visit the website: LINK HERE

The bar will be open for the adults and food available all weekend.

THAME swimmers did the town proud at the recent South East Region Winter Championships 2015, at Portsmouth last weekend, when two Thame Swimming Club representatives qualified to compete.

Club spokesperson, Helen Williams, said: “This is an elite gala given the ‘open’ nature of entry, meaning that only the top swimmers within the region can attend, so it was fantastic that we had representation from both Marcus Birmingham and Ben Williams.

“Marcus achieved a PB in his 200 Breaststroke on the Saturday (Nov 7) with Ben narrowly missing out on his 200 Free-style on the Sunday, but achieving one on his 50 Backstroke!

“It was an experience for the boys to be swimming with GB swimmers and was great to watch. Thanks as ever to Ian Blyth for supporting the boys over the weekend in Portsmouth.”

TAUNTON, having lost only one match this season, had to dig deep to put away the side that have only won once this season, recording a narrow 25-23 victory over Chinnor who will feel that one got away.

Taunton got away to ‘a flyer’ with Hales scoring wide out in the first minute. Chinnor’s Millett reduced the deficit to 5-3 with a penalty goal after 10 minutes. Chinnor, with a fierce wind at their backs, saw a lovely handling movement finish with Beer going over. Millett converted to put the home side ahead 10-5. Millett and Kingdom traded penalty goals and from the restart the ball was unfortunately deflected into the hands of Taunton hooker Gatford, who had an easy stroll to the line to level the score at 13-13. Millett’s penalty goal just before half time saw Chinnor go in 16-13 ahead.

With Vandermolen in the sin bin, Taunton took advantage with a try from Chapman after a penalty line out drive. Kingdom’s conversion put the visitors 20-16 ahead with 20 minutes to go. Taunton went further ahead when Chinnor fumbled their own lineout leading to a yellow card for Burns and, eventually, a try for Taunton’s Cooper for a 25-16 lead and a bonus point.

Chinnor kept attacking and were rewarded for sharp handling when Fatialofa dotted down. Millett’s conversion closed the score to 25-23 to Taunton, but time ran out leaving Taunton narrow winners.

This was a real old fashioned team performance from the Chinnor boys and a real indicator that fortunes are at last beginning to change.

Chinnor
Marcus Beer, Robbie Martey, Jack Adams, Junior Fatialofa, Jake Olley, Will Millett, Frank Jones, Jamie Townsend, Mark Darlington, Andy Darlington, Andy Tibbatts, Ben Manning, Tom Burns, James Tyas (c) Joe Vandermolen

Interchanges Andy Berry, Joe Pickett, Ryan Long, Greg Goodfellow, Salvo Palormes

Taunton
Gary Kingdom (c), Nick Mason, Freddie Fraser, Josh Jones, Jack Claydon, Joe Simmonds, Lewis Webb, Jake Woolmore, Jon Gatford, Jake Caulfield, Stuart Persey, Duncan Hales, Brett Harvey, Dan Frost, Sam Prior

Interchanges Alex Spurdle, George Cooper, Barrie-John Chapman, Jamie Fleming, Toby East

Scorers
Chinnor
Tries (time): Beer (12), Fatialofa (69)
Conversions (time): Millett (13, 70)
Penalty Goals (time): Millett (9, 17, 36)

Taunton
Tries (time): Hales (1), Gatford (18), Chapman (58), Cooper (65)
Conversions (time): Kingdom (59)
Penalty Goals (time): Kingdom (15)

SOURCE: Contributed

THAME Town Cricket Club has successfully taken the first steps towards an ambitious scheme to redevelop its clubhouse and facilities, with a commitment from Thame Town Council to fund the pre-planning work.

During a presentation to the town council on Tuesday (27/10), Cricket Club representatives Matt Swain, Angus Lachlan and Alastair Thomas explained their plans for a new club house to be shared by Thame Hockey, Netball and possibly other sports clubs, with extra parking facilities to be shared with the Barns Centre.

If Planning is approved, other funding towards the £825,000 estimated cost of the project, will be sought from South Oxfordshire District Council, Sport England, the English Cricket Board (ECB), local businesses and through Thame Cricket Club’s own fund-raising which has already started to the tune of £30,000.

The town council sees the cricket club development as part of its Sports Strategy that has emerged from the Thame Neighbourhood Plan, and most of the funding it will contribute will come out of Developer contributions known as Section 106 contributions, from the various future housing and other developments that are, and will be in the future, springing up around the town. Section 106 monies have been identified specifically for the Cricket Club pavilion of £12,816 from Site F and £14,770 from The Elms development.

If all goes goes to plan, the cricket club hopes to begin demolition of the existing facilities in September 2017, in preparation for building a brand new, modern facility in Church Meadow that should last this growing, Premier League club at least as long as the 40 plus years that the current barn conversion has served it.