February 12, 2021
Today’s visitors to Chinnor were Caldy, who made the 190 mile or so journey from the Wirral to Oxfordshire for their second ever visit to Kingsey Road.
If the Caldy supporters’ posts on rugby forum Rolling-Maul are to be believed, the visitors are unlikely participants at this level, having just a tiny wooden shack on a hill, where pot-noodles are considered gourmet food, as copious amounts of alcohol are consumed by the self-styled Ravers.
However, their competitive side let down this romantic view, and they arrived in Thame proudly sitting in second place on a run of 7 consecutive wins, with their impressive scalps including top 6 sides Rams, Sale and Cinderford. In addition, they had won 7 out of 9 matches on the road, with the only reverse coming in their first match, at Cinderford.
Fly-half/winger Ben Jones is the division’s leading point scorer, and winger Nick Royle is regularly at the top of the try scorer’s charts. Add in a typically gnarled front-row, an efficient line-out and a mobile back-row, it is no surprise to see Caldy in the upper echelons of the table, back after one season in National Two North.
Previous matches between Chinnor and Caldy have been tight, and the reverse fixture in early October finished in a 27-27 draw, with a late penalty for Caldy ensuring the spoils were shared. In 2018/19, Caldy snatched a 27-24 win at Chinnor, whilst Chinnor gained revenge at Paton Field with a 20-17 victory.
Chinnor were in 7th place, but with two games in hand, so still on the fringes of the promotion battle, depending on whether it is 2 or 3 sides that will go up to the Championship. However, they had lost 6 out of 9 home matches, so were the under-dogs in what was likely to be another close encounter, with a late score probably deciding the outcome. Chinnor though, would have to sort out their scrummaging, and avoid giving away a host of penalties.
Temperature at kick-off was apparently 8 degrees, with the weather dry and cloudy but with a the typically strong breeze it felt a lot colder. Caldy kicked-off into the wind and almost immediately full-back Elliot Gourlay burst through a gap and looked to be heading for the line until brought down by an excellent tackle by Goss. Chinnor infringed at the break-down, and Caldy opted to take the points. From just outside the 22, Jones’ left-footed kick gave the visitors a 3-0 lead.
The strength of the wind was clearly evident, as from the restart, Caldy’s attempted clearing kick was held in the wind and made very little distance. After this Caldy did not attempt another kick from open play for the rest of the half.
Chinnor came close to scoring in the 4th minute, flanker Ryan made ground through the middle but was tackled just short of the line. Incredibly, Caldy centre Titherington emerged with the ball, and went on a run and looked to be heading for a length of the field score, until another fine tackle from Goss prevented the break-away try.
The pattern of play was quickly established. Caldy retaining the ball in hand but with the play in their half. Whenever Chinnor established a good position, invariably they lost the line-out or knocked-on. From one such line-out, Caldy’s hooker Ollie Hearn made a break into the Chinnor half, but another good tackle snuffed out the danger.
It took Chinnor nearly 30 minutes to threaten again, winning consecutive penalties for 5 metre line-outs, but the Caldy defence stood firm, and eventually won a penalty. With Caldy continuing to give a master class on how to play into the wind, they put the icing on their first half performance with a try just before the break. Chinnor gave away a dumb penalty at the break-down on half way, and after kicking the penalty upto Chinnor’s 22, the maul from the line-out took them close to the Chinnor line, from which scrum-half Murray darted over in the corner and then dashed round closer to the posts. Jones again slotted over for a 10-0 lead.
There was still time for Chinnor to win the restart, but another fumble in the backs ended the half. Going into the interval 10 points down after playing with the elements it looked grim for Chinnor, who had been poor and made far too many mistakes, and a comfortable victory for an impressive Caldy side looked on the cards.
Indeed, the Chinnor started the second half in a similar vein, butchering two more line-outs from promising positions. However, Caldy started to kick away possession in the wind, and Bourton instigated a dangerous counter-attack to take the play deep into Caldy territory. Winning the ruck, another break by Ryan took Chinnor close to the try-line, but lock Curry decided to ignore the 3 man overlap out wide and went for glory only to be held up just short of the line. A penalty had already been awarded though, and from a tap, the ball went through a couple of pair of hands before finding fly-half Tichener, who was able to waltz under the posts for a try in his first start for Chinnor. Bourton’s conversion brought the score to 7-10.
Two minutes later, Caldy again kicked away possession, this time to Chinnor No 8 Fred Tuilagi, who took play up to close to the half-way line, and a sweeping move saw Bourton heading towards the corner. Although he was tackled short of the line, with a penalty advantage a cross field kick left Goss in acres of space to collect the ball and touch down. Bourton’s conversion drifted narrowly wide with the wind, but incredibly Chinnor had turned the match around to lead 12-10 after 49 minutes.
Unfortunately for the home side, they conceded a penalty at the restart, and again Caldy opted for the posts rather than go for the corner, and Jones restored their lead from just outside the 22 and more or less in front of the posts. 12-13 after 50 minutes.
Caldy were then able to keep most of the play in the Chinnor half, but the home defence was solid, and Caldy struggle to create any good chances, and Chinnor looked sharp on the few occasions they got their hands on the ball. The pressure eventually told with another penalty, and againCaldy went for the posts rather than the 5 metre line-out, and Jones kept his 100% record from the tee to make it 12-16 with around 8 minutes remaining.
Caldy’s clearance from the restart went straight into touch, to give Chinnor a line-out just outside the Caldy 22. Chinnor actually won the line-out and when the ball was eventually released to the backs they looked dangerous, but a good tackle halted the move, and Chinnor’s indiscipline not only conceded a penalty at the ruck, but back-chat cost another 10 metres.
With the clock running down, Caldy fly-half Hinchliffe’s kick penned Chinnor into their 22. Inevitably, Chinnor messed up the line-out, this time not straight was awarded. From the scrum, Caldy pressed, and eventually the ball was released, for substitute Cartmill to find a gap and go under the posts. Jones added the extras to make it 12-23 after 79 minutes.
There was still time for Chinnor to search for a try for a losing bonus point, and they won a penalty in the Caldy 22. Understandably they took a tap penalty rather than a 5 metre line-out, but when the ball was spun wide predictably a knock-on ended the move and brought the match to a conclusion.
Caldy were deserved winners and with Rosslyn Park losing closed the gap at the top to 7 points, although an inability to claim try bonus points might prevent them seriously challenging Rosslyn Park for the title. For Chinnor after a 7th home loss, they can now forget about any hopes of promotion. On a day when for once they did not concede a large number of scrum penalties, it was their line-out that let them down.
Highlights : https://www.chinnor-rfc.com/videos/trylights--chinnor-12-caldy-23-176461.html
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