December 11, 2021
After their dramatic
late collapse to lose at home to Plymouth Albion, Chinnor have subsequently won
29-12 at Leeds, beat Taunton 22-5 at home and lost 27-28 at leaders Rosslyn
Park when a touch-line conversion at the end of the match sailed agonizingly
wide.
Sitting in 4th
place in the table, today they entertained Bishop’s Stortford, long-standing
rivals from both their days in National Two South and after promotions to
National League One. Stortford have a very good record over Chinnor with three
wins each in Thame, but have won 5 out of 6 in Hertfordshire. Chinnor’s three
home wins have all been by 3 or less point margins, and the 1,580 who turned up
for the 27-25 victory in April 2017 in National Two South remains Chinnor’s
highest ever home attendance.
Historically, Bishop’s
Stortford have had relatively light-weight but mobile pack, vulnerable in the
scrums, but a highly efficient line-out and highly effective in the loose and at
rucks. They also liked to play an expansive game to exploit a potent set of
backs.
Bishop’s Stortford
went into the fixture lying second from bottom in the National One league table.
They started the season well, with home wins over Plymouth Albion ( 32-19 ) and
Taunton ( 26-22 ) and a draw at Tonbridge Juddians ( 18-18 ) in their first four
matches, but since then they had suffered 7 losses in 8 games, with a 33-3 win
over Birmingham Moseley being the only match where they had avoided defeat.
However, despite this record, history suggested a close encounter was to be
expected.
The temperature at
kick-off was around 6 degrees but light drizzle was falling. Chinnor
established a promising position in the Stortford 22 in the opening stages, but
in a pattern that was to be all to familiar in the game, Stortford stole the
line-out to clear.
Despite the poor
conditions, both sides tried to play expansive rugby, and one dangerous Stortford
attack was halted by the referee’s whistle for crossing. Chinnor soon got back
into the Stortford 22, and this time the line-out was won, and rolling maul was
driven over for the opening try. Hooker Vaness was credited with the try but Ryan’s
conversion hit the post, so it was 5-0 after 8 minutes.
The restart by
Stortford failed to go 10 metres and bounced into touch. Goss and Worrall took
a quick line out and appeared to be in the clear. However, the referee blew his
whistle and awarded Chinnor a scrum. I am not sure what the rule here is !
Chinnor continued to
be on top but knocked-on in the tackle after a couple of phases close to the
Stortford line. Chinnor prop Connolly was then shown a yellow card for bringing
down a maul and shortly afterwards the visitors won a scrum penalty and kicked
to the corner. The line-out was won and they broke through the middle of the Chinnor
defence, and after two offloads, Betteridge dived over the line close to the
posts. Walker missed the straightforward conversion so it remained 5-5 after 21
minutes.
Stortford then
repelled a Chinnor attack by winning a turnover penalty but knocked on from a
promising position on the edge of the Chinnor 22 after winning their line-out.
They won a penalty from the resulting scrum though, and Walker was successful from
a similar position to the missed conversion. 5-8 after 27 minutes.
Chinnor’s response was
immediate and although a superb tackle halted centre Yawayawa, the ball was
re-cycled to release full-back Millett to score in the corner. Ryan’s superb
conversion from the touch-line gave the home side a 12-8 lead after 34 minutes.
Chinnor nearly scored
again soon after, when Stortford knocked on in mid-field and Ryan kicked across
the field where winger Goss was in space, but his fly-hack forward went dead.
However, in first half added on time, Stortford scored again with a similar
move to their first try. Their 5 metre line-out was won, a break was made but
this time Chinnor were able to prevent the try. Stortford were able to re-work
possession though and a long pass down the blindside found winger Powell in
space to score in the corner. With the conversion missed, Stortford went in the
interval with a 13-12 lead.
During the break the
rain became much heavier and Stortford played to conditions well to spend the
first 20 minutes of the second period in Chinnor territory. A series of
penalties were kicked into the Chinnor 22 but the home defence stood firm. It
became attritional as the scrum penalties mounted, but the pressure eventually
told and after another penalty to the corner and line-out won, the rolling maul
was forced over the line for a try with hooker King announced as the scorer.
The attempted conversion was horrendous and barely got off the ground, but
Stortford now led 18-12 after 54 minutes.
Chinnor’s restart
failed to go 10 metres, and Stortford were immediately back on the attack. A
series of ricochets from attempted fly-hacks by both sides nearly bounced
favourably for the visitors but they were awarded a scrum in the Chinnor 22. Scrum-half Banks then sent a grubber kick through the defensive line and substitute Linney
flopped onto the ball for the bonus point try. Again, the attempted conversion was
embarrassing so the score stood at 12-23 after 60 minutes.
Chinnor stirred but
their woes continued when a line-out 10 metres out was ruled not straight, and
they conceded yet another penalty at the scrum. Chinnor managed to get their
hands on the ball a few minutes later and a good move gave Heath space by the
touch-line, but his kick ahead was well defended and cleared to the half-way
line.
Chinnor were
surprisingly awarded a scrum penalty when their pack appeared to be going
backwards and they were back in the Stortford 22. Yet again though, much to the
delight of the visiting supporters, Stortford stole the line-out.
Stortford looked to be
in total control until a moment of stupidity gave Chinnor renewed hope. Scrum-half
Walsh attempted to take a quick penalty but was blocked by hooker King, who was
shown the yellow card. With the man advantage, Chinnor were lifted but two
successive line-out disasters followed as promising positions were squandered.
Walsh then put a
cross-field kick into the direction of the corner flag and the covering defender
kicked the ball out of play before Hodson could gather. This time Chinnor
finally won a line-out and Clementson was driven over the line. Another superb
conversion from out wide by Ryan brought the score back to 19-23 with 4 minutes
left to play.
Chinnor’s tails were up,
and another flowing back move took them back to the Stortford 22 and it looked
like the tackle to halt Hodson was high, but the referee waived play on and at
the ensuing ruck, a penalty was awarded against Tuilagi. Although Stortford
were able to take play back into the Chinnor half, another counter attack nearly
saw Goss escape down the touch-line but he was bundled into touch.
For just about the
first time in the match, Stortford failed to hold their line-out, with the
throw adjusted to be not straight. Chinnor managed to retain possession from
the scrum and after a couple of phases, fly-half Ryan had the ball with players
outside him, but he inexplicably decided to kick a high ball with was comfortably
gathered by full-back Walker, who called for the mark. With time-up the
kick-off the pitch led to the final whistle and victory to Bishop’s Stortford.
For Chinnor it was a limp finish after looking to possibly snatching an
undeserved win with a strong final 10 minutes.
The visitors were thoroughly deserved winners, and should have won by a much bigger margin, especially if their place kicking had matched that of Chinnor’s. They were a revelation in the scrum and impressive at the line-out. Despite a storming finish, Chinnor were poor and barely deserved a losing bonus point from an error strewn performance. Their forwards were outplayed, their line-out was dismal and they gave away far too many penalties, although perhaps on a drier day their backs might have been more successful. Despite a fifth home defeat of the season, Chinnor slipped only down to 5th in the table, whilst Bishop’s Stortford moved up to 11th.
Highlights : https://www.chinnor-rfc.com/videos/trylights--chinnor-19-bishops-stortford-23-174557.html
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