Chinnor 37-27 Darlington Mowden Park ( att : 298 )

December 14^th, 2019

After a morning of heavy rain, clear blue sky greeted both teams as they ran out on a cold December afternoon.

With the teams in 4^th and 5^th place respectively in the National 1 table, as always, a close match was on the cards.  DMP are one of the ( many ) ambitious teams in the division, purchasing the 26,000 capacity white elephant of a stadium that led to the bankruptcy of the town’s football club, and although they average gates of just under 1,000, they are seen as being well-run, and have a good relationship with Newcastle Falcons, who regularly loan players to them

DMP showed no bus-lag from their long journey south and start at a blistering pace. Although they were about to be pushed off an early scrum, the ball was played quickly and a floaty pass tempted the Chinnor centre to intercept, but it went over his head, and the DMP full back raced to the corner and then had enough awareness to ground much closer to the posts for a straightforward conversion.

Chinnor responded quickly and Chris Elder, the other centre made an incisive break and then fed the supporting flanker who was high tackled into touch on the DMP 22. With Selway, the Chinnor hooker calling for calm, Callum Watson, the scrum half took a quick tap penalty, broke through a tackler and then fed Will Harries, the ex-Wales International playing his first game since being injured in October, for a classy finish in the corner. The conversion from the touch by May was excellently converted

DMP then dominated the next 15 minutes, with Max Davies ( a lock who played half a dozen games, mostly from the bench, for Chinnor on loan from Ealing last season without making much of an impression ) scoring after a series of forward drives, and when a simple penalty was added they led 7-15. DMP were running the ball at every opportunity and their backs looked impressive. 

An indication of the pressure Chinnor were feeling is that they decided to kick a penalty rather than go to the corner to reduce the deficit, before the two centres combined to break the defensive line and then gave Worrall, their other winger a run to the corner. This time the conversion narrowly missed so it was 15-15 after 30 minutes.

Chinnor camped on the DMP line for the rest of the half, winning a series of penalties that lead to one yellow card, and another that could easily have been a penalty try, but with DMP defending bravely, Chinnor finally decided to kick a penalty for a half-time lead of 18-15

Starting the half with the extra man, Chinnor scored immediately. A penalty to the corner, the 5 metre drive was stopped but the loose ball was picked up by a forward to crash over the line for 25-15. 

Chinnor smelt blood and launching another attack from the backs, a lock made a very loud call leading to a pass going to nowhere. DMP’s backs picked up the ball, and a few swift passes later their flanker went over under the posts. A short while later, the full-back scythed through for the winger to score but with the conversion being missed it was now 25-27.

The turning point was probably when Warren Seals, DMP’s South African centre, who has scored more points than anyone else in this division so far this season, pushed a reasonably straight penalty wide of the posts.

Galvanised by this, Chinnor took control of the game, with a prop barging over near the posts, and then after a series of drives on the DMP line had sucked in the defenders, the scrum half passed to the fly half to send a long pass to Goss, the replacement wing in acres of space to run unopposed to the corner. With a missed conversion the score was 37-27.

In the last 5 minutes DMP tried valiantly to get another try to get the losing bonus point but Chinnor’s defence held firm and it was an unusual feeling to watch the last few minutes safe in the knowledge that the game was won !

The outstanding player of the day was DMPs full back Josh Hodge, one try, several impressive breaks, calm in defence and a couple of tremendous clearing kicks from his 22 into touch deep in Chinnor’s half. I looked him up after the game, he was making his debut on loan from Newcastle Falcons, and played for England U20s in the summer.

Chinnor remain 5 points behind Richmond, the leaders, but could go level with them next week. A flier through the letterbox offered £5 off for this match and also next week vs Richmond, so entrance was just £5 for members. Whilst the poor weather and Christmas shopping resulted in a disappointed attendance this week, a bumper crowd should be in evidence next week for the visit of the league leaders.

Highlights : https://www.chinnor-rfc.com/videos/chinnor-v-darlington-mowden-park-highlights-154467.html