Chinnor Win Despite Playing Conditions – By Peter Matthews

Clevedon 3pts Chinnor 43pts

A waterlogged pitch at Clevedon forced the game to be played at the local Comprehensive School.The playing area could hardly be described as level as it was at the bottom end of a hill where the local moles obviously enjoyed the environment! However it was credit to both sides that they adapted to the playing conditions.
Chinnor were once again without Eric Brown, the League’s top try scorer, with Jamie Hiscock going on to the right wing and Rewi Tolich starting at left wing. Paul Hennessy came in on the bench with
evergreen, Simon Matthews continuing at loose-head. Darren Oxley was a notable absentee tied in Thame with domestic duties. Ali Reekie deputised.

Clevedon opened the scoring with a well struck penalty in the fifth minute from fly-half Dan Hawkes. This was nullified minutes later when James Hewitt
slotted a penalty from 35 metres out. Chinnor went close several times but over-eagerness, leading to spilled passes kept them at bay. With Andy Milburn
being denied a touch down from a rolling maul, following continued Chinnor pressure, it was only a matter of time before they were awarded a try from
another maul when Rewi Tolich got into the act to gain the touch down. A fine touchline conversion from James Hewiit put Chinnor in the driving seat. Chinnor were still finding it difficult to put in the scoring pass on numerous occasions before eventually Sam Soane broke the defence and sent a well-timed pass to the young speedster, Jamie Hiscock saw him sprint 30
metres to score in the corner for a well worked try. Another conversion by James Hewitt gave the score-line a more realistic reading at the interval.

Raaki Maxwell set the tone in the second half when he took the kick off and tore into the Clevedon pack. With most of the play taking place in Clevedon territory, Rewi Tolich again inserted himself into forward thrusts to gain two more triesWith Hewitt adding conversions to both of these efforts Chinnor were well and truly in the driving seat.

There were two fine individual efforts, one from replacement Richard Williams and the other from Matt Buckley, with Hewitt adding the one conversion, to make his strike rate six from seven, completed the scoring.

This was a good all-round performance under difficult conditions. Chinnor could and should have been more patient on a number of occasions but nevertheless this was an emphatic win.
Six games left with Chinnor needing to win the lot to make promotion a reality.