‘Sloppy’ Chinnor Meet Cheltenham

CHELTENHAM belied their position of propping-up the league table at Kingsey Road on Saturday, when they visited Chinnor at Thame.
They were a pacy side with a strong pack of forwards who counter attacked at every available opportunity. They were somewhat assisted by a sloppy performance from Chinnor who had started with aplomb which probably gave rise to some complacency whereby they ignored the basics on too many occasions.
However Cheltenham were never in the lead in this high scoring encounter, albeit not being out of sight at any time.
Chinnor opened the scoring in the ninthth minute when they spun the ball across the field starting just outside their 22 metre line. The ball reached
Adam White on the right wing who kicked in-field for Rewi Tolich to gather the ball and go over under the posts, Richard Williams adding the
conversion. Cheltenham responded when, after a series of forward drives, their second row Alan was driven over the line. Chinnor were next on the score
sheet when Eric Brown went in under the posts following a well worked move in the middle of the field, Williams again adding the conversion.
Not to be outdone, Cheltenham came back with another try from second rower Alan via a rolling maul which was becoming a Cheltenham trademark. A strong run from
Eric Brown set-up Rewi Tolich for his second try with Williams adding the extra points with a fine touchluine conversion. A Williams penalty for
off-side on the stroke of half-time gave Chinnor a 24pts to 10 advantage at the interval.

Cheltenham were the more sprightly at the start of the second half and were rewarded with Obileye, their other second row forward being awarded a try from another rolling maul. Williams nudged Chinnor further
ahead with a well struck penalty before Lait reduced the deficit with yet another try emanating from a rolling maul. Rewi Tolich went over for his third try when he was driven over the line by half the Chinnor pack with Williams once again showing the importance of the conversion by landing his fourth.

Well into injury time livewire scrum-half Hending went over under the posts with Steve Clark eventually kicking his first goal of the game. Judging from this performance Cheltenham will most certainly make headway up the table with Chinnor needing to concentrate a little more on the hard graft bits and pieces.

Chinnor 34pts Cheltenham 27pts