Chinnor RFC one step nearer the ‘dizzy heights’ (Contributed)

Chinnor v Weston Super Mare – March 29 – MATCH REPORT
Chinnor 39 pts, Weston – Super – Mare 0 pts
THE conditions were most certainly not suited for an expansive game. In scoring seven tries Chinnor made light of the elements. They still managed to exploit the speed of their backs, particularly in the first half, where they played into the driving wind and rain. In Phil Huxford, Pip Seymour and Martyn O’Mahoney, Chinnor possess an exceptionally pacey back three. With a sound half-back pairing and a solid pair of centres, Chinnor are now able to cause problems to most of their opponents.This was so on Saturday against Weston Super Mare.
Chinnor elected to play into the wind at Kingsey Road on Saturday.
The early skirmishes were evenly balanced, with Chinnor endeavouring to keep the ball in hand opting for route one via their forwards. A break out by Chinnor from inside their 22 metre line saw then spread the ball wide giving Pip Seymour the opportunity to outstrip the covering defence and score at the corner flag. Into the driving wind the attempted conversion was a non starter even by James Cathcart’s standards. This try in the 12th minute was followed by another some 14 minutes later when Darren Oxley joined a forward drive to score near the posts. Cathcart converted this one, although after the ball went through the posts, the wind drove it back from whence it came.Owen Gustafson was next on the score sheet after supporting a move which once again started well inside Chinnor territory. With Phil Huxford showing an exceptional change of pace to deceive the cover defence, Chinnor had scored 4 tries into the wind at the interval.
For the first quarter of the second half, Weston were a different team. With their forwards taking the game to the home side, they battered the Chinnor line with a last ditch defence just keeping them at bay, and when the ball was turned over, the relieving kick went many a mile. However they still came back at Chinnor before a break out saw Darren Oxley shrug off a couple of tacklers to offload to the supporting Grizz McQuire to go over under the posts, allowing Cathcart an easy conversion. Further tries from James Cathcart after prolonged pressure allowed him to go over, with no one at home, and finally following a delicate chip from Trevor Powell,Richard Williams won the chase to the touch down.
This was a sensible performance from a Chinnor side who recognise that this was just one performance out of the four required to scale the dizzy heights.

Chinnor 1st team play Oxford Harlequins in the Oxfordshire Cup Final at Iffley Road, Oxford kick off 3 30pm this Saturday 5th April.