Chinnor Under 15s lift the Oxon Cup

IN very blustery and wet conditions Chinnor managed to win the toss and elected to play with the wind, in the first half their Oxfordshire Cup final match with Witney on Sunday.

Captain Sam Nicholls (right) and pack leader Matthew Wilkinson, receive the trophy from Mayor of Thame, Jeannette Matelot Green

Immediately from kick off Witney failed to kick the ball 10 m, and so the restart came from a scrum. Immediately Pill picked the ball from the back of the scrum and ran blind taking contact before off loading to Mendi, an ever present danger on the wing. Mendi broke through two tackles and was looking to get to the try line before being hauled down. Aslett came across in support and took the off load and went over scoring Chinnor’s first try inside the first few minutes. With the strong, windy conditions Nicholls missed the extras but Chinnor were on the board and confidence was strong .

From the restart Chinnor pinned Witney back into their half and pressed quickly, and with solid tackling.  Aslett and Scorey controlled territory in the midfield with Nicholls and Church always hungry for turnover ball. The Chinnor forwards worked tirelessly in what became a war of attrition during the first half, and pressed Witney back with every tackle. Meredith and Kent were strong in the tackles and covered a high number of metres in support of the back line. The boys showed fantastic commitment and effort in preventing Witney any space and this pressure eventually told with turnover ball, which Chinnor pounced on and a series of forwards plays around the corner led to Burkett crashing through tackles to score. This time Nicholls added the two taking the score to 12-0.

The half ended with Chinnor resisting wave after wave of attack from Witney and some outstanding tackling and jackling from Meredith, Kent and Constable, who had already won three scrums against the head from hooker, keeeping the pressure up. Sadly for Meredith he was no longer able to take any further part of the game with an ankle injury and so gave way to Jasper Green coming in on the flank.

Turning around, Chinnor expected Witney to play with the wind and use kicks to move territory. This never materialised thanks to the relentless work from Chinnor’s forwards. Burkett, Bird, Rumble and Wilkinson were immense in carrying the ball and taking on a powerful Witney pack up front. Church controlled the game intelligently and moved the pack around the corner taking territory again and again. Green linked very well between the forwards and backs and created several breaks.

With tiredness coming into effect, tackles started to slip and Chinnor took advantage by spinning the ball to the right with Sewter making a telling burst from Scorey’s break, before an inside pass to Nicholls left the fly half with a 20 m dash for the line which he followed with an excellent conversion into the wind.

Shortly afterwards, Nicholls took a heavy knock which resulted in a substitution bringing on Wise to full back and Davies stepping into number 10. Davies played very well and took responsibility for carrying the ball time and again with the forwards continuing to drive at the line. Tiredness was really taking its toll on both teams and some poor handling and a kick through, allowed Witney space in the Chinnor 22 m. A series of penalties against Chinnor eventually resulted in an overlap and Witney scored a well executed try moving the score to 19-5.

The last 10 minutes of the game were scrappy and intense, with both teams gaining and losing territory. Chinnor dug deep with all 15 boys showing some amazing dedication and belief in their tackling. With pressure really telling, the referee blew up and the game was won!

Well done to Chinnor under 15’s for a brilliant performance in such difficult conditions and a very well done to Witney for some great determination and strong forwards play in what was an attritional game. The Cup belongs to Chinnor for 2015 and the boys will take a well earned break for Easter!

We give our thanks to Jasper Green who was sadly playing his last game for Chinnor before heading to USA. We wish him well and thank him for the years of great rugby he has given Chinnor and look forward to seeing him flourish in The States.

SOURCE: Contributed by Salim Sajid – Chinnor Under 15’s Coach