Chinnor Fight The Chill To Victory

CHINNOR returned with the spoils from this top of the table clash at Clifton on Saturday. The bitingly cold, swirling wind made handling difficult and penalty kicking even more so. However Chinnor adapted to the conditions better than the home side and had the match winner in the place kicking of James Hewitt.

Chinnor began with purpose, moving the ball wide as often as possible, going close to breaching the Clifton defence, which is the best in the league, on a couple of occasions. A penalty goal by Hewitt was their only reward for this early pressure. With Clifton’s No.8 and captain John Levis breaking dangerously and with pace from the back of the scrum, they scored when the supporting second rower, Ryan Cox plunged over the line. Another try just minutes later by flanker Chris Lowry from another Levis surge extended the Clifton lead, but with Bell missing both conversions and a penalty just on the half-time whistle, the 10pts to 3 lead was not insurmountable.

With no let-up from the Artic conditions, the second half was very much a stalemate in the initial stages with most of the play between the 22 metre line. However it was becoming evident that Chinnor were gaining the ascendancy in the forward exchanges, so much so that Blake was sin binned for persistent infringement around the rucks. Chinnor made the most of their one man advantage when they shoved the Clifton pack backwards over the line for Paul Hennessy to get the touchdown. With Hewitt judging the wind to perfection and adding the conversion, the scores were level and it was very much game on.

Chinnor persisted in running the ball and a delightful chip from fly-half, Matt Buckley, set up a try for Eric Brown which proved to be
the winning score. Brown took the 50/50 ball in his stride, brushing off two tackles to powerfully make the line. Another well-judged kick from the
impressive Hewitt sealed the win. The Chinnor scrummaging was top draw throughout and this allied with a strong defence and having a reliable place
kicker in a tight match proved decisive.

Clifton 10pts Chinnor 17pts.