March 29, 2025
After a gap of two months, Chinnor finally got to play a home game of Rugby Union. In the nine weeks since the 19-32 defeat at the hands of Ampthill at the end of January, Chinnor had played just twice, and not at all in February. The Not The Prem Cup was won after a 33-31 victory in the second leg at Cambridge, and last week Chinnor edged out Caldy 24-23 on the Wirral, thanks to a try and conversion in the 79th minute. Chinnor now had a 5-0-8 record to sit in 10th in the table.
Today saw another of one of the famous names in English rugby, Coventry, make their first ever visit to Kingsey Road, and a bumper crowd was expected to see part-time Chinnor take on full-time opponents.
Coventry
Founded in 1874, in the late 1960s/early 1970s, Coventry were arguably the best side in the country, winning the John Player Cup in 1972/73 and 1973/74, beating Bristol and London Scottish in the finals, and losing semi-finals in 1971/72 and 1974/75. Their side in that era included England internationals such as flamboyant British Lion wing David Duckham, full-back Peter Rossborough, centres Barrie Corless, Geoff Evans and Peter Preece, and prop Keith Fairbrother. Prop Fran Cotton also played for Coventry and the Lions.
When the league structures were introduced in 1987/88, Coventry were placed in the highest division but were relegated at the end of the first season, and apart from three seasons between 1993 and 1996 in the third tier, stayed in the second tier until the end of 2009/10 when they were relegated again.
Coventry were National League One champions in 2017/18, to return to the second level Championship.
Coventry played at Coundon Road until 2004, after which they moved to the Butts Park Area, which now has a capacity of 5,250 and an artificial surface. Their home colours are broad white and blue hoops, with blue shorts and blue socks.
Coventry This Season
Coventry came into today’s game third in the table with a 9-0-4 record, one point behind Bedford Blues and 13 points adrift of Ealing Trailfinders.
They had won their opening seven matches before crashing to a 14-46 defeat at Cornish Pirates. They then lost their next two games, falling 25-35 at home to Ealing Trailfinders in front of a crowd of 4,523, and then slumped 26-41 at Nottingham.
Coventry stopped the rot with a narrow 24-23 victory at home to Doncaster Knights but then lost 23-27 at Bedford to have lost 4 out of 5 matches. When the Championship resumed after its two-month hiatus, Coventry recorded a routine 43-33 victory at home to backmarkers Cambridge last week.
In the Premiership Rugby Cup, Coventry won three of their six group games to narrowly miss out on the knockout stages. After a comfortable win at Nottingham, they caused an upset by beating Leicester Tigers 33-19 at Welford Road but went down 10-19 at home to Northampton Saints. Another victory over Nottingham ( 76-21 at home ) left Coventry needing to beat one of Leicester or Northampton to have a chance of the last eight, but the Premiership sides proved to be too strong and both won convincingly. Coventry though did have the consolation of crowds of 5,202 and 5,250 for the home ties against Northampton and Leicester.
Coventry were the best supported team in the Championship so far in the season, with an average home crowd of 3,257. Chinnor had the third best average of 1,638, behind Bedford Blues, who averaged 2,830.
Coventry Squad
Coventry’s leading points scorer this season was Australian fly half Liam Richman with 88 points, followed by ex-Hartpury fellow fly half Thomas Mathews with 78 points.
Ex-Cambridge wing James Martin was the leading try scorer on 11, followed by ex-Jersey and Bedford full back Ryan Hulter with 9.
Centre Oli Morris was previously with Ampthill and Worcester Warriors, hooker Jordan Poole had played for Exeter Chiefs, and Fijian lock Sinitiki Nayalo was ex-Edinburgh and London Irish, and is a serving soldier in the British Army.
Flanker Aaron Hinkley numbered Gloucester, Exeter and Northampton amongst his former clubs, whilst ex-Worcester, Gloucester, Exeter and England back row forward Matt Kvesic ( 4 caps ) had missed the recent games through injury. Tongan hooker Suva Ma’asi was previously with Exeter Chiefs and Cornish Pirates.
Centre Tom Hitchcock played for Richmond at Chinnor last season whilst wing Charlie Robson played for Rams in the Friday Night Lights game last year. Winger Jake Henry was on a season long loan from Edinburgh.
Previous Meetings
Chinnor and Coventry had met just once before in a competitive match, the return Championship fixture back in October when Coventry were victorious by a 28-14 margin watched by 3,197 spectators.
Most reports commented that it was a pretty even game, with the difference between the two sides being Coventry being much more effective in the red zone, ruthlessly taking their opportunities, whereas Chinnor squandered several of their chances. Coventry’s four tries were scored by Robson ( 2 ), Hitchcock and Poole, with Richman landing the four conversions. Chinnor scored tries by Luke Carter and Morgan Passman, both converted by Connor Slevin.
The two sides also played a pre-season friendly in Coventry in September, when the home side ran out 45-17 winners. Another pre-season friendly was played August 2015, when Coventry won 47-19 over National 2 South Chinnor.
Chinnor and Coventry Connections
Coventry scrum half Josh Barton appeared 17 times for Chinnor during two loan spells from London Scottish in 2017 and 2018, whilst lock James Tyas had two spells at Chinnor, in 2014/15 and 2015/16, before returning on loan from London Scottish in 2019, playing 44 games in total. Tyas scored 12 tries for Chinnor, mostly as a back row forward.
Chinnor prop Keston Lines signed from Coventry in 2021. Prior to that a conveyor belt of short-term loans between 2017 to 2019 arrived from Coventry, including props Luc Jeannot, Harry Morley, and Phil Ackuaku, hooker Matt Price, locks Cameron Gray, Kalius Hutchinson, Scott Russell and Tom Jubb, back row forward Latu Makaafi, scrum halves Dave Brazier and Will Flynn, wings James Neal, and Kwaku Asiedu, and fly half Ben Palmer.
Chinnor prop Robin Hardwick is the son of ex-Coventry, London Irish, La Rochelle and England prop Rob Hardwick ( 1 cap ). Backrow forward Tom Johnson started at Chinnor in 2002/03 before moving onto Coventry, Exeter Chiefs and 8 caps for England.
Matchday Information
According to AA route planner, the journey from Coventry to Thame is 66 miles and should normally take around 70 minutes down the M40.
The weather at the 15.00 kick-off was dry with sunny intervals and a temperature of 11 degrees. After a still morning, the infamous Chinnor breeze was in attendance whilst four Red Kites were keeping an eye on proceedings from above Kingsey Road.
Adult tickets purchased online were £17 but £14 for members. For over £65s it was £14 and £12 for students. Prices at the gate were £19 for adults and £16 for members. With the member’s 10% discount, a pint of XT Session Amber was £4.95. An online programme had been produced in advance of today’s game.
Coventry made four changes to the XV that started against Cambridge, with lock Dan Green, full-back Logan Trotter, Ma’asi and Hitchcock coming in for Nayolo, Hinkley, Morris and Hutler. Ma’asi was surprisingly in the back row rather than his usual position of hooker, and Trotter was making his first appearance for Coventry on loan from Glasgow Warriors. Exeter Chief scrum-half Sam Maunders was amongst the replacements.
Chinnor made one changes to the side that won at Caldy with Cameron Rafferty coming into the back row in place of Scott Hall, who dropped to the bench.
Coventry were in a fairly horrible change kit of pink and sky blue/turquoise hoops with sky blue/turquoise shorts and pink socks whilst Chinnor were in their usual black and white hoops.
Match Report
Chinnor kicked off into the breeze and after being penned into their 22, Coventry opted to kick to halfway, where Chinnor launched a blistering attack as flanker Max Clementson made yards and released winger Grant Hughes to race down the touchline, and his inside pass saw scrum-half Carter head for the posts only to be tackled just short of the line. However, centre Tom Watson was in support to receive the offload and cross near to the posts. Fly half Nathan Chamberlain added the extras to give Chinnor a 7-0 lead with barely a minute played.
Coventry immediately pressed at the restart, but Chinnor were able to gain possession and Carter’s clearing kick bounced into touch near to the Chinnor 10 metre line. Coventry won their lineout and spread the ball amongst their backs, but the move broke down, and play was halted due to an injury to Tyas. Play resumed with a scrum to Coventry and Welsh/Tongan centre Dafydd-Rhys Tiueti made a dangerous looking break until being tap tackled. The visitors pressed but Chinnor won turnover ball inside their 22 only for the clearing kick to be charged down, and Green gathered and cantered over the line. Mathews’ conversion brought the score to 7-7 after 7 minutes.
Coventry infringed at the restart, and with the kick in a central position just outside the Coventry 22, Chinnor opted to take the points, which Chamberlain duly obliged, so the score moved to 10-7 with 9 minutes played.
Coventry were soon on the attack again but after Number 8 Chester Owen made some ground, Tiueti knocked on. Chinnor went down the blind side from the scrum, but Hughes sliced his kick ahead straight into touch. Coventry won their lineout and Hitchcock kicked to 15 metres from the Chinnor line.
Rafferty tapped the throw back but only succeeded in putting his scrum half under pressure, but Carter was able to clear into the Coventry half. Coventry attempted to go wide but the pass from Tiueti was intercepted by Hughes, who was illegally stopped. The penalty advantage came to nothing, so Chinnor again opted to go for the posts, but from slightly further out than last time. The kick from Chamberlain was caught in the breeze and drifted narrowly wide of the uprights.
An aimless kick into the Chinnor half saw the home side move the ball to the left, where wing Kieran Goss chipped ahead and gathered his own kick but was bundled into touch. Coventry won their lineout, but they misjudged the strength of the breeze and the kick from midway inside the Coventry half went dead to give Chinnor the scrum on the Coventry 10 metre line.
Chinnor were awarded a free kick at the scrum and took a quick tap, and Chamberlain fed Passman to burst through the Coventry defensive line and then released Goss to run down the touchline, but the wing was stopped just short of the try line. Chinnor recycled but were again stopped short of the line with a penalty advantage, and when the referee blew for the penalty, Coventry flanker Thomas Ball was shown a yellow card.
Chinnor kicked to the corner and their rolling maul from the lineout rumbled towards the try line but was held up short of the line. The ball was given to Watson, who was tackled short of the line, but Carter was on hand to pick-up and score. Chamberlain’s conversion took the score to 17-7 after 21 minutes.
Chinnor were soon quickly brought back down to earth as full-back James Bourton was put under pressure from the restart and Chinnor coughed up a penalty. It was now the visitors’ turn to point to the posts, and Mathews made no mistake from 22 metres. It was now 17-10 with 23 minutes played.
Coventry’s discipline continued to let them down as they yielded another penalty at a ruck, which enabled Chinnor to kick into the Coventry 22. The home pack made several drives for the line and eventually the pressure told, and the try was scored. Prop Hardwick was given the credit, and another conversion from Chamberlain extended the lead to 24-10 with 27 minutes on the clock.
Chinnor again conceded a penalty from the restart, but Coventry’s quick tap from the Chinnor 10 metre line produced nothing. Shortly after, another penalty to Coventry enabled them to kick to within 5 metres. Green rose the highest to claim the lineout and the Coventry forwards drove repeatedly for the line. Had they looked up they would have seen wing Henry in about 30 metres of open space out wide, but any embarrassment was spared when they eventually crashed over with prop Toby Trinder announced as the scorer. Mathews maintained his 100% record from the tee to reduce Chinnor’s lead to 24-17 with 32 minutes played.
Shortly after Chinnor were reduced to 14 men when Watson attempted to hand-off a tackler, but made contact with the Coventry player’s face. Coventry kicked the penalty to inside the Chinnor 22 but their throw was sent too long, and Clementson gathered for Chinnor. However, the referee stopped play for a head injury to Chinnor captain Willie Ryan, and showing consistent decision making, the yellow card was shown to Coventry prop Vilikesa Nairau.
When Coventry attempted to spread play just inside their half, Clementson ripped the ball from Tiueti and then kicked ahead. Coventry were able to claim the loose ball but kicked straight to Chinnor wing Goss, who fed Passman to go on a rampaging run through the middle of the Coventry defence, but the when Goss received the return pass he was tackled into touch close to the Coventry 22.
As half-time approached, a Coventry scrum creaked under pressure, but they managed to get the ball out and spread the ball to Henry, who progressed into the Chinnor half before being tackled. The ball was reworked and Ma’asi made further ground into the Chinnor 22 where Chinnor knocked on at the ruck.
This time the Coventry scrum was good and won a penalty, enabling a kick to 5 metres. The rolling maul was heading over the line before collapsing, and the referee awarded the penalty try, and perhaps a bit surprisingly it was Chinnor wing Hughes who was shown the yellow card even though he didn’t appear to be anywhere near the action. It was the last action of the first half, with the score now standing at 24-24.
After a slow start, Coventry had done well to be level at the interval and would have been fancying their chances to go on to win the game, even though they would be playing against the breeze.
Coventry looked to go wide early in the second period, but Chinnor again ripped possession from the Coventry backs and Passman was able to surge into the Coventry 22, but the visitors won a penalty at the ruck. However, the kick was caught in the wind and failed to find touch, and Goss ran at the Coventry backline, and when tackled the referee awarded a scrum to the home side.
Scott Hall drove for the line, but the referee was playing a penalty advantage, from which Chinnor kicked to 5 metres. Chinnor won their lineout ball and looked like they were going to score but the ball was spilt 5 metres from the line and Coventry launched a blistering counterattack. The ball must have gone through a dozen pair of hands as and they went the length of the field and hooker Poole scored under the posts for a fantastic team try. With Mathews again on target from the tee, it had been a proverbial 14-point swing. Instead of falling behind, Coventry had taken the lead, as the score moved to 24-31 after 45 minutes.
A period of messy play then ensued as both sides gave away possession which ended with Bourton’s attempted long pass to Goss flying straight into touch. Not for the first time the Coventry throw went too long and Chinnor gathered, leading to a Garryowen which David Opoku-Fordjour caught and called for the mark. The kick went downfield and Chinnor forced a penalty close to the halfway line. With the wind at his back, Chamberlain went for the posts, and his kick comfortably sailed over the bar to take the score to 27-31 with 51 minutes played.
Coventry then enjoyed a good spell, moving play from left to right then left again with substitutes Hinkley and Robson looking prominent, but without any end product. However, eventually the pressure told and a rolling maul looked like it would produce a try but was stopped short, and Tiueti was in support to go under the posts. Mathews added another conversion to his tally to make it 27-38 after 54 minutes.
Coventry were looking strong and good bets to run away with the game but they were pinged for crossing from the restart, from which Chinnor kicked to 5 metres. Lock George Shaw secured the lineout ball and the Chinnor pack barged over, with replacement hooker Alun Walker touching down.
What followed next was slightly odd as both touch judges raised their flags for Chamberlain’s conversion. However, the scoreboard didn’t add the two extra points. Chatting to some Coventry supporters after the game a couple thought the conversion was good but a couple said it went wide. Obviously, the referee must have overruled his assistants and ruled the kick was unsuccessful. Consequently, the score was only 32-38 after 56 minutes.
If Chinnor thought they were back in the game, Coventry had other ideas, and their backs continued to threaten, and they quickly came close to scoring again, but after a series of drives the referee deemed the ball had been held up to give Chinnor the goal-line drop out. Mathews then attempted to run onto his own grubber kick, but the Chinnor defence was up to the challenge and were able to clear to their 22.
Chinnor came close to stealing the lineout, but Coventry eventually gathered, and another chip ahead bounced favourably for Tiueti but again the Chinnor tackling was good, and they won a penalty for not releasing. However, the pressure from the visitors was relentlessly and after another flowing move, backrow forward Mackenzie Graham, on debut on loan from Bath finished under the posts. Two more points from Mathews now took the score to 32-45 with 63 minutes played.
Chinnor battled to get back into losing point range and stole a lineout, but the following high kick was claimed by Opoku-Fordjour. Play was now very loose and a stray Chinnor pass was claimed by Tiueti who very quickly yielded possession. When Chinnor ran back at Coventry, on loan Sale Shark Prop Tumy Onasanya showed good hands to release Hughes, who with just the fullback to beat opted to chip ahead, but the covering Coventry defence were able to get to the ball first and carry over into their in-goal area to concede a 5-metre scrum.
Chinnor were under pressure in the scrum and when they used the ball, Pressman knocked on in the tackle going for the line. From the Coventry scrum, Mathews made 10 metres before being tackled, and the clearing kick swirled into touch on the 22-metre line. It was then Chinnor’s turn to overthrow at the lineout, which prop Nairau caught and hoofed down field. Chinnor were able to gather the ball and return to the Coventry half and won a penalty. A quick tap from replacement scrum half Callum Pascoe led to another period of messy play, until a Chinnor kick bounced into touch inside the Coventry 22. However, the referee had been playing advantage and Chinnor kicked the penalty to 5 metres.
Chinnor were camped on the tryline, but a series of drives were repelled. Eventually they looked up and a long-floated pass enabled Goss to scoot over in the corner. With time just about up, Chamberlain faced a difficult touchline conversion to claim a losing bonus point, but his attempt drifted just the wrong side of the near post. The referee then blew for full time, with the final score 37-45.
Overall, Coventry were good value for their victory but every time when it looked like they were going to take control of the game, Chinnor game back to score. The home side will probably be kicking themselves for their failure to score which led to Coventry’s length of the field try so 31-24 instead became 24-31.
