September 9, 2022
After three Friday evenings matches between these two sides attracting bumper crowds, it was hardly surprising that both clubs had again agreed to play home and away fixtures under lights on Fridays this season.
The sides last met in April in a barnstorming match featuring 13 tries, 83 points, the lead constantly changing hands, and with Chinnor scoring the match winning try in the final minute. Rams had won the two other action-packed Friday night encounters, and meetings between the two local rivals are invariably close, hard-fought and entertaining. The sides finished in 7th and 6th place respectively last season, another even money game was on the cards.
Rams are based in Sonning, on the outskirts of Reading, and opened their season with a comfortable 38-21 victory over newly promoted Esher, notable for a try and 5 conversions for fly-half Alex Seers, and prolific full-back/wing Henry Bird getting one of his side’s 5 tries.
Rams’ pack is a blueprint for many sides at this level. Whilst not being particularly big in comparison with some of the sides in the division, such as the big beasts lurking in the Forest of Dean for Cinderford, they are a force to be reckoned with. They have a dependable, experienced front row, an efficient line-up that can be relied upon to secure their own ball, and a mobile back row, who seem to be everywhere, tackle everything in sight, and invariably secure turnover ball. Rams side for tonight’s fixture named 11 players who played in last April’s match, 6 of whom were forwards.
Chinnor faced the long journey to Darlington Mowden Park for their first fixture and slipped to a 16-23 defeat. However, DMP appear to have strengthened their squad and are some people’s dark horses for a top 3 finish, or even promotion, to bring Championship rugby to their 26,000 capacity stadium. Indeed, the last minute long-range penalty kick to give Chinnor a losing point might be seen as being a creditable point at the end of the season.
In recent years, the close season has resembled a set of revolving doors at Chinnor, as leading players either left to join sides in the Championship, or returned to their parent club after loans, and replaced by a new in-take. However, this time it was relatively stable, with Chinnor’s starting XV in Darlington including just two players making their debut for the club. These were ex-Cardiff Blues Welsh lock James Down, who was previously playing for Russian side Lokomotiva Penza, and Canadian International fly-half Will Kelly, who joined from Toronto Arrows. Perhaps this is an indication of Chinnor’s global scouting network, or maybe more likely, a wide range of agents !
Tight-head prop Josh McNulty returned for a second spell at the club, and three more players made their first appearances from the bench. These were ex-Northampton hooker Reece Marshall, ex-Hartpury fly-half Tom Price, and Italian Under 20 international lock Pietro Turrisi, who is on a season long loan from Wasps.
Chinnor made three changes to their side for this evening, with ex-Rosslyn Park centre Lewis Jones replacing Sam Yawayawa, Pietro Turrisi replacing Conor Brockschmidt who had concussion, and Tom Price replacing Kelly at fly-half.
With the death of Her Majesty the day before the game, there was considerable uncertainty as to whether or not the match would proceed, especially as just about every other sport had cancelled their fixtures as a mark of respect to the Queen. However, less than 6 hours before kick-off, the RFU announced matches could be played as long as appropriate respect was shown.
There was a heavy shower an hour before the game but the rain stopped shortly before kick-off, with temperatures around 15 degrees. The match-day programme had obviously been hastily updated to have a picture of Her Majesty on the cover and the one-minute silence before kick-off was impeccably observed.
In anticipation of a larger than usual crowd Chinnor had arranged for additional food outlets inside the ground, but as per the previous Friday night matches, had seriously under-staffed the large marquee. Just one inexperienced lad was left to serve in the Marquee, and as the large queues built up, many potential customers walked away thirsty. Fortunately, we had got there early and had enough sense to order several drinks in one go. It was only well after kick-off that additional resources were transferred from the Members/Player’s Bars to help out and provide a more adequate service.
Chinnor kicked off and started strongly, and all the early play was in the Rams 22. Fly-half Price made an impressive break through the visitors defence and although Worrall was tackled short of the line, Rams had infringed and Price had a straight-forward kick in front of the posts to give Chinnor a 3-0 lead after three minutes.
Chinnor continued on the front-foot and a high-kick was dropped by the normally impeccable Robbie Stapley to give Chinnor a scrum, from which they won a penalty. As Chinnor pressed for the try-line a wild pass went astray, enabling Rams to kick the ball into Chinnor’s half. However, play was soon back in the Rams 22, and after another infringement, Price added another 3 points from around 30 metres to make it 6-0 with 12 minutes played.
Rams were still not at the races, and after they surprisingly dropped a line-out, Chinnor spread the ball wide, but Rams defence was up to the task, and after an ambitious play from Chinnor led to the ball being dropped, Rams hacked downfield to force a line-out inside Chinnor’s 22. The home side butchered the line-out and after a fumble, Rams camped on the home line and a try was eventually awarded, and credited to prop Ant Marris. Seers added the extras to give Rams a scarcely deserved 6-7 lead after 17 minutes.
Chinnor continued to dominate, and after a Rams line-out was thrown too long, Chinnor forced another penalty for a high tackle, which Price converted for Chinnor to regain a 9-7 lead after around 20 minutes.
The tempo of the match started to slowly change, and after Rams won turnover ball near half-way, they won a penalty and kicked to the corner. The line-out was won and after the rolling maul rumbled towards the line, flanker James McRae broke free to cross the whitewash. Although the conversion was missed, Rams now led 9-12 after 26 minutes.
Chinnor won a line-out from the kick-off, but it wasn’t straight. From the resulting scrum the visitors won a penalty, and were back mid-way into Chinnor’s half. A probing grubber kick was collected near the Chinnor line and sent back to half-way, but although the return kick went to the in-goal area, the referee awarded a penalty to Rams. Again, they went to the corner and with a predictable inevitability the rolling maul was successful, with McRae again getting the credit for the score from the announcer. This time Seers was able to convert to make it 9-19 after 32 minutes.
Rams’ domination continued and with 40 minutes on the clock, the referee blew his whistle as the visitors grew ever closer to the try-line, and after consultation with his assistant, a yellow card was shown to Chinnor lock James Down. A crystal ball wasn’t need to predict a line-out, rolling maul and try, with this time prop James Baker announced as the scorer. Although the conversion from Seers was missed the lead had extended to 9-24 and Rams had secured the try bonus point.
With added time being played, Chinnor won their line out in the Rams 22, and although a Rams forward ripped possession away from the Chinnor player, the pressure led to a penalty to the home side. The 5 metre line-out was well defended and a knock-on was forced. Referee Wigley though, had seen something amiss and awarded a penalty to Chinnor, and showed a yellow card to Rams lock Connor Stapley. This time it was Chinnor’s turn to execute a rolling maul for hooker Darlington to dive over, and the conversion from Price made the half-time score 16-24.
With 40 minutes played it was hard to know what to make of the first half. Chinnor’s backs had looked lively, but Rams resolute defence had kept them out, and had only been breached by the Chinnor pack in added on time. On the few occasions Rams had got into Chinnor’s 22 they had scored just about every time and Chinnor didn’t seem to have an answer to their rolling maul. Worringly for Chinnor the Rams pack appeared to be getting stronger as the game progressed. All the first half tries had resulted from line-outs…….
Any hope the home supporters might have had for their to further close the deficit lasted less than three minutes into the second period. Although a line-out and rolling maul had been successfully been repelled by the Chinnor defence, the ball was released to wing Rossiter who ran a nice line from the touch-line to break through a couple of flimsy tackles to further extend the lead 16-29 as Seers missed again from the tee.
The Rams onslaught continued, as an excellent 50/20 kick saw them camped back in the Chinnor 22 and the pressure eventually yielded another penalty, and with the bonus point already secured, Rams pointed to the posts for the easy three points for Seers to bring the score to 16-32.
With Chinnor need three scores, Rams must have relaxed slightly as a careless penalty was conceded for offside from a clearance kick, and another rolling maul from a close-range line-out saw ex-Northampton hooker Reece Marshall claiming the try, and superb conversion from Price out wide brought Chinnor back to 23-32 after 54 minutes.
Rams were soon back in the Chinnor 22 though as Chinnor knocked on from the kick-off. Rather than the forwards pile on the pressure, their backs were released, but a pass was intercepted to avert the danger. However, Chinnor couldn’t make any ground and were again desperately defending.
Chinnor were able to win a scrum penalty, but the kick into Rams half failed to find touch. Fortunately for Chinnor, Rams carelessly conceded another offside penalty, this time at a ruck, and Chinnor had a line-out in the Rams 22. The line-out was won, but in their effort to force a score, a loose pass was intercepted, and two passes later Rossiter was under the posts for his second try, and the conversion made the score 23-39 after 64 minutes.
Chinnor were in urgent need of a response, but were initially thwarted and forced back by a tremendous clearing kick to half-way. However, the pressure told and after a series of drives close to the line, the visitors’ defence was sucked in, and a long pass from scrum-half Carter found wing Hammond in acres of space out wide to cross, and another excellent conversion brought Chinnor back into touching distance at 30-39 with around 10 minutes to play.
With their tails up Chinnor went in search of their 4th try and a scrum penalty enabled them to progress back into the Rams 22. The rolling maul was successfully defended, and when Chinnor were forced to spread the ball amongst their backs, the Rams defence was again solid, and a great tackle resulted in a penalty to the visitors. That was effectively the last chance for Chinnor, as astute game management from Rams enabled them to play out the final minutes of the match inside the home side’s 22, and after winning three consecutive penalties and opting for more scrums to wind down the clock, with the last play of the game the pressure told as hooker Hayman barged over to add another try to the Rams total, and Seers conversion game a final score line of 30-46.
At the final whistle Rams had claimed a 5-0 victory over their local rivals, which was fully deserved thanks to the impressive performance from their forwards, and the excellent execution of their rolling mauls from close range line-outs. Although this was another high scoring encounter with ten tries and 76 points, it somehow seemed to lack some of the drama of the previous meetings as apart from the initial 20 minutes, Rams looked the much stronger side, and rarely looked like being pulled back. I suspect though, that Rams supporters will not agree with that sentiment and would have found the game to have been excellent entertainment !
Highlights : https://www.ramsrugby.com/videos/match-highlights-chinnor-3046-rams-090922-181761.html
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