Seasonal Best For Chinnor (Contributed)

ARGUABLY Chinnor’s best performance this season. They
used their attacking options well and their defence was well organised and rock solid. Basingstoke showed they were no pushover as their third place in the league would indicate. They are a well drilled and pacy outfit as their prolific points scored record indicates. This meant that Chinnor needed to
be fully focused and on their mettle to get the result they needed to keep momentum in their title chase.
Chinnor’s Tongan duo, Sam Soane and Rodney Mahe were side-lined with injury which necessitated Rewi Tolich moving into the centre and Jamie Hiscock going onto the wing. Ed Rixon came in at open-side.
Chinnor were on the score sheet two minutes into the
game when, after consistently going down the blind-side, they created an opportunity for Rewi Tolich to go over almost unnapposed to score under the posts. Matt Buckley added the conversion. Basingstoke responded immediately when, afer a sustained bout of pressure, they were awarded a penalty for a
Chinnor offside with Simon Humberstone making no mistake with the ensuing kick. Chinnor increased their lead some five minutes later when the alert
Morgan Thompson exploited a gap to once again go over near the posts.
With Buckley again adding the conversion, Chinnor had made the most positive of starts. A second Tolich try at the 30th minute mark, with Buckley adding
the conversion, gave Chinnor an interval advantage of 21pts to 3.
With the referee playing the advantage law to good
effect, the second half flowed from one end to the other. Strong cover tackling by both sides kept the scoreline static. Eventually an error by
Humberstone, in the 73rd minute allowed Hiscock to field a wayward clearance to set up yet another try for the supporting Tolich with Buckley converting. A try by Carl Saunders for Basingstoke, in the 3rd minute of extra time was the final act of the game. This was an excellent game of rugby football from two sides who were prepared to play positively from the word go.
Matt Buckley was outstanding for the home side in
both attacking and defending modes. Ed Rixon was again all over the park and with Hennessy and Maxwell formed an effective back-row unit. A word for
skipper Craig Burrows whose jumping and securing of the ball from the line-out was imperious.

Chinnor 28pts Basingstoke 8 pts
Photo: Chinnor Fly Half & Man Of The Match Matt Buckly