IN the local derby on Saturday (13/09) between Chinnor RFC’s new look team and Henley, returning from National 1, the honours went to the home side with Henley winning 28-24.
The first half was all Henley; quicker tougher and harder at all phases of the game. The scoring opened in just the second minute when Henley, disrupting a Chinnor scrum, allowed scrum-half Conor Murphy to scoot down the blindside unopposed from 35m out for the opening try. Chinnor thought they had the next score when Jack Hayes, charging down Murphy’s kick on 10m, gathered the loose ball and, in the act of crossing the line unopposed, dropped the ball. Miss number one.
On the 10th minute, Henley scored through a penalty goal from Conor Murphy after a high tackle, increasing their lead to 8-0. Three minutes later, Chinnor lost their own lineout ball 15m from the Henley line – a frequent occurrence throughout the match – and a delightful inside pass saw the Henley right winger dash almost the full length to be denied a try in the corner. Henley scored again in the 20th minute when Kroman was penalised for coming in at the side, and Murphy stroked a penalty goal for an 11-0 lead to the home side. A simple right-to-left passing movement by Henley ended with their second try when winger Owen almost casually sidestepped in from touch, to dot down on the 28th minute. For Chinnor, Keohane and Boughton missed straightforward penalty attempts in front of goal. Misses two and three.
Things went from bad to worse for Chinnor, already struggling to keep on the coat tails of Henley, when number eight, Alfie To’oala, remonstrating too forcibly when being held back at a ruck, was red carded by the referee.
Henley went in at the break 16-0 ahead and looking set to score a hatful more.
Right from the kick-off in the second half, Chinnor were awarded a penalty goal in front of the posts and this time Keohane’s aim was accurate for their first points of the match and Henley lead of 16-3. Their promising start was undone when the Henley’s blindside flanker, Tom Hall, collected the ball on Chinnor’s 22 and barrelled, spun and drove his way through six tackles to appear to score in the corner. After consultation with the touch judge, the try was awarded to the clear surprise of Chinnor’s defenders and nearby spectators. Murphy added the extras for a 23-3 lead on 46 minutes.
Chinnor’s fortunes began to change with a sustained attack in Henley’s red zone ending with winger Martey being driven over by the posts on 52 minutes. Keohane added the extras to reduce the deficit to 23-10 in favour of Henley. Chinnor began to put the squeeze on the home side, and were now contesting equally at each phase of play with perhaps the exception of the lineout. But fortunes changed again when, Tibbatts was yellow carded on 64 minutes, to reduce the visitors to just 13 players and so it came as no surprise that just one minute later Henley’s Stapley scored their bonus try from a rolling maul to put the match score at 28-10.
However, Chinnor, now with greater resolve, came back into the match in dramatic fashion. Attacking the Henley line for several minutes, they were repulsed each time until some neat footwork from skipper Martin Nutt led to Chinnor’s second try of the match on the 71st minute. Boughton converted to make the match score 28-17 with 72 minutes played. It was then Henley’s turn to incur the wrath of the referee for constant infringements in their desperate attempts to prevent Chinnor scoring, receiving two yellow cards in the space of four minutes. Chinnor’s Haile benefited, running in their third try on 79 minutes. Boughton converted for 28-24 but there was no time to forge the upset threatened by the re-energised visitors from Thame.
Chinnor had a poor first half, and were second best in every phase of the game. The unfortunate sending-off of To’oala seemed to galvanise the team and their performance in the second half, particularly in the last quarter, when they almost nicked a victory.
Waddingham for Chinnor was outstanding; Martey looked most promising and Henley’s scrum-half Murphy was most influential in the match. Chinnor will be buoyed by outscoring their opponents by 24 points to 12 in the second half but must learn to get into the game much earlier, to turn misses into points and to keep 15 players on the pitch.
Chinnor: Martin Nutt (c), Matt Mountford, Jack Hayes, Junior Fatialofa, Reuben Haile, Ed Keohane, Reece Boughton, Simone Carloni, Jamie Townsend, Tino Paoletti, Josh Kroman, Andrew Tibbatts, Ben Manning, Alex Waddingham, Alfie To’oala
Interchanges: Ian Stock, Joe Pickett, Ryan Long, Frank Jones, Robbie Martey
SOURCE: Contributed
From start to finish, the first half was a disjointed affair as neither team were able to establish any real rhythm on a difficult playing surface. For the first quarter of the game, it was United who looked most likely to score, but they lacked the clinical touch in front of goal and, gradually, the game become condensed in the centre of the pitch with Jordan Bryan, in particular, looking dangerous for Cheltenham. Ten minutes before the break United felt that they should have been awarded a penalty when Marcus Mealing beat Cheltenham keeper, Ryan Betteridge, to the ball only for the keeper to follow-through and up-end Mealing. The referee, however, saw no offence and the protests were to no avail.
