November 13, 2021
After a week’s break,
round 10 saw Plymouth Albion make the 420 miles or so round trip to visit
Chinnor, which by their standards is one of their shorter journeys of the
season !
Plymouth have a rich
history at the highest levels of English rugby, and after the formation of
professional leagues in England, they spent 13 seasons in the second level,
until financial problems led to their relegation at the end of the 2014/15
season. Since then, Plymouth have finished at the top end of National League
One. In 2015/16 they would have finished 4th but for a 30 point
penalty for entering administration, they came second in 2016/17, albeit 30
points behind champions Hartpury College who went through the whole season with
a 100% record, with subsequent placements being 3rd, 5th
and 6th .
Plymouth were the
second best supported club in the league in 2019/20, with an average home attendance
of 1,005. The current season has so far been below expectations though, and
Plymouth went into today’s fixture in second bottom position in the table, with
two wins and six losses from the eight games played.
The first 5 matches of
the season were all lost : Rosslyn Park ( H 8-37 ), Bishop’s Stortford ( A
19-32 ), Rams ( H 19-26 ), Sale ( A 28-37 ) and Cinderford ( A 12-36 ).
However, two consecutive victories were then registered, Birmingham Moseley ( H
34-12 ) and Blackheath ( A 36-30 ) before the winning run came to a halt with a
home defeat to Caldy ( 7-26 ).
Looking at the Albion
squad on their website, winger Alex Ducker was the leading try scorer for
Redruth in National League Two South in 2016/17 win 24 tries, one of them
memorably against Chinnor, where he ran the length of the field beating most of
the Chinnor side in the process, and some of them twice !
Young front-row
forwards Danny Southworth and Alex Norey are on loan from Exeter Chiefs, having
previously had loan spells at Chinnor, with Southworth making 24 appearances between
2018-20 and Norey 8 appearances in the 2018/19 season. However, neither player was in today’s
matchday squad, with Southworth being recalled by Exeter to play in their
Premiership Cup match against Bristol. Lock Shek Sheriff play three times for
Chinnor in 2019 whilst on loan from London Scottish.
Chinnor’s first ever
match in National League One resulted in a shock 26-11 win at Plymouth’s
Brickfields stadium in September 2018, which announced they were to be taken
seriously at this level, although Albion gained revenge with a 17-10 win on the
last day of the season at Kingsey Road. The only other meeting between the two
sides was in November 2019 when they played out a 10-10 draw in Plymouth with the
return fixture being a victim of the pandemic.
After their
disappointing loss at home to Cambridge as reported in these diaries, Chinnor
subsequently had a morale-boosting 34-15 win at Tonbridge Juddians to move back
up to 5th in the table. Although they remain unbeaten away from home,
they would be looking to improve on their poor 2-0-3 home form, and they were
boosted of the return of fly-half and local boy Will Millett on loan after
several seasons with Championship side Nottingham. Flanker Ben Manning was set
to make his 150th appearance for the club.
The weather at
kick-off was dry with the temperature supposedly 12 degrees but it felt much
colder, but fortunately the infamous Chinnor breeze was not very prevalent.
Referee Veryan Boscawen
has been a regular to Kingsey Road, and with a Cornish name the home supporters
were hoping that he wouldn’t look too favourably on the visitors from Devon !
Much to the delight of
their sizeable travelling support, Plymouth started strongly, showing little
sign of bus lag. They won a scrum penalty in the 5th minute, which
was kicked to the corner from which a penalty was awarded from the subsequent
line-out and rolling maul. The process was repeated with another penalty won,
after which their forwards battered the Chinnor line without reward, and ignoring
winger Ducker all alone on the touch-line. Eventually, Chinnor conceded another
penalty and Plymouth opted to take the easy three points on offer, with fly half
Phil Jones giving them a 3-0 lead after 11 minutes.
Straight from the kick-off,
Plymouth winger Shea Cornish breaking through the Chinnor line, and looked to
be heading for an outstanding solo try until tackled just short of the line by
Chinnor full-back James Bourton. However, Chinnor conceded yet another penalty,
and with the referee keeping his cards in his pocket. Plymouth kicked again to
the corner.
Chinnor stole the
line-out but have cleared the immediate danger, Plymouth attacked again, this
time left winger Ducker scythed through the Chinnor midfield, giving the
impression of tackling being an optional extra, but after being tackled just
short of the line, he was able to off-load to centre Jeremy To’a who dived over
close to the posts. The simple conversion from Jones gave Plymouth a 10-0 lead
after 15 minutes.
The restart from Chinnor
was spilled by a Plymouth player and a penalty was conceded. After the kick to
the corner an impressive drive from the line-out saw Fleckney award the try as
the forwards stormed over the try line. Bourton’s conversion made it 7-10 after
19 minutes.
Plymouth responded by
winning a penalty from the restart, but the line-out in the corner was deemed
to be not straight. Chinnor’s attempt from the line-out was also not straight,
but the referee award a free-kick to the home side.
Chinnor’s backs were
finally given sight of the ball in the 23rd minute but Bourton
decided to ignore an overlap and go for the line himself, but he was tackled
and the chance was gone. After a high tackle on Chinnor Sam Yawayawa, Chinnor
kicked to the corner and after a strong run from Tuilagi, the ball was fed to
centre George Gross, but he was tackled in the process of diving over the line
and spilled the ball. However, Plymouth’s respite was brief and Chinnor ran
back the clearance and another after drive from Tuilagi, the ball reached Bourton
to score in the corner. A fabulous conversion from the touchline gave Chinnor a
14-10 lead after 30 minutes.
Plymouth quickly responded,
and after winning another penalty, and several phases close to the Chinnor line,
Ducker was eventually given the ball to step inside his marker to score. With
the conversion missed, Plymouth lead 15-14 after 33 minutes.
The see-saw nature of
the encounter continued and Ben Manning burst through the Plymouth defence
after a line-out and a couple of phases, and the conversion close to the posts
put Chinnor back into the lead, 21-15 with 36 minutes played.
Plymouth then dropped
the ball in midfield and lock Oli Curry charged into the visitors 22. However,
some illegal work at the ruck saw a yellow card brandished to Albion hooker
Jamie Salter and Bourton kicked an easy penalty to increase Chinnor’s lead to
24-15 after 39 minutes.
The first half action
wasn’t over though, and after Millet launched a touch-finder deep into Plymouth
territory, winger Cornish did well to keep the ball in play and then set-off on
a mazy run to the Plymouth 10 metre line. After the attack was halted by
illegal means, Plymouth attempted to kick deep into the Chinnor half but failed
to find touch, and the defensive clearance signaled the end of a breathtaking
first-half, with Chinnor leading 24-15.
The second half started
in an entertaining fashion as both sides launched their backs as the play moved
end to end, but without troubling the scoreboard. Plymouth won another penalty,
this time from a scrum, and from the subsequent line-out a cross-field kick
looked to have put Cornish into the corner, but he was forced into touch by a
timely tackle. Plymouth continued to press and their forwards rumbled ominously
towards the Chinnor line. However, they lost control of the ball just short of
the Chinnor line, which was passed out to Keiran Goss, who broke through one
tackle and then ran the length of the field to score in the corner to give
Chinnor the 4 try bonus point and a 29-15 lead after 53 minutes after the difficult
conversion was missed.
Inevitably, Plymouth
came back strongly and after a strong break by No 8 Herbie Stupple, full back
Raumakita was bundled into touch close to the try line.
At this point Referee
Boscawen required treatment for a hamstring injury and after a short delay he
decided he was unable to continue and was replaced by one of the touch judges.
Little did we know at the time, that this was to have a huge bearing on the
result of the match.
Almost immediately,
there was a huge knock-on by Plymouth in the Chinnor 22, but as most of the
players stopped in anticipation of the obvious whistle, a couple of Plymouth
players played on and Sheriff scored under the posts. With the conversion the
score became 29-22, but even the Plymouth medic admitted he was embarrassed by
that decision and even he would have given the knock-on. One of the spectators
closed to me observed it was easy to see why he was a touch judge rather than a
referee !
However, it didn’t seem
to matter to much as after another Plymouth knock on was awarded, much to loud ironic
cheers, Chinnor had a series of drives close to the Plymouth line, after which hooker Chilvers darted over to score. The Plymouth bench complained loudly that
the grounding wasn’t clean, and they may have had a point. In any case, the
conversion put the home side 36-22 ahead with just 17 minutes left to play.
A long Plymouth kick
was touched down by Goss in the in-goal area and initially the referee awarded
a drop-out on the 22 metre line, until the visitors pointed out it should be a
drop-out from behind the try-line.
With 11 minutes left
Tuilagi was shown a yellow card when the referee halted a flowing Plymouth
move, although I have no idea what the offence was. The bizarre decisions
continued as with Chinnor going backwards at a scrum, they were awarded a penalty,
and with some dissent from the Plymouth pack they were penalized 10 yards.
With around 5 minutes
left to play Plymouth were awarded a scrum in their 22, and whilst moving
forward they lost control of the ball which popped out and Millet fly-hacked to
the Plymouth line. However, despite the suggestion of high tackle, the visitors
defence managed to gather the ball and clear the danger.
With the replacement
referee increasingly looking like a rabbit in the headlights, Chinnor were
still attacking but with just over 4 minutes left on the clock, they lost control
of the ball just outside the Plymouth 22, enabling centre Parsons to finish off
the counter attack. With the conversion missed, Plymouth were still two scores
behind at 36-27 but had earned a try bonus point.
Plymouth again dropped
the restart, and Chinnor pressed for the clinching score. Unfortunately for
the, replacement scrum-half Goodfellow’s ambitious pass was intercepted when
they could have kept the game tight, and Ducker ran 50 yards to score. With the
conversion it was now 36-34 with 79 minutes on the clock.
Chinnor still
controlled the game though and with 80 minutes on the clock they had a scrum in
the Plymouth 22. Again, they failed to close out the game, and when the ball
came loose, Plymouth hacked it into the Chinnor 22. Winger Goss won the foot
race to the ball, but with Chinnor appealing for foul play at the ensuing ruck,
Plymouth played the ball quickly to Ducker who scooted over for his third try
of the match and the winning score. The conversion from Jones sealed an
incredible 41-36 win for Albion thanks to three tries in the last 5 minutes, and
no doubt an enjoyable journey home !
Chinnor will be wondering how they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
Highlights : https://www.chinnor-rfc.com/videos/trylights--chinnor-36-plymouth-albion-41-173501.html
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