Saturday 12 November 2022

Chinnor 33-41 Esher ( att : 389 ) – National League One

November 12, 2022

Today’s fixture at Kingsey Road saw the meeting of two sides in the bottom three. After their loss at home to Sale two weeks ago, Chinnor achieved a creditable 10-10 draw at Cinderford in a match played in heavy rain, thanks to a penalty with the last kick of the game. The Foresters had previously a 100% home record.


 

Esher had lost all 9 of their matches since their return to National League One, conceding over 30 points in all but two of their games. Away from home the least they had conceded was 35 points, and the smallest losing margin had been 13 points. They had been more competitive at home, with Rosslyn Park only squeezing out a 32-27 victory, and Leeds Tykes emerged with a narrow 26-24 win. With Esher scoring an average of 24 points per game a high scoring match looked in prospect. Esher’s 7 bonus points at least saw them sit ahead of Hull, the other side without a win, by 2 points in the table.

The only league meetings between the two sides were in 2018/19 when Chinnor won 24-18 in Thame in December. In a match covered by these diaries, Esher won the return 34-29 in Hersham.

https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2020/01/esher-34-29-chinnor-att-677.html 

Jack Walsh, now at Chinnor, was the outstanding player that day for Esher, but it wasn’t enough to prevent relegation at the end of the season. Peter Winterbottom is still Director of Rugby but confusingly, Esher now have another Jack Walsh in their side !

The sides also met each other twice in friendly games played under adapted rules for Covid in May 2021, where the away side was victorious on both occasions. 

There was barely a cloud in the blue sky at the 15.00 kick-off time, and with the temperature around 16 degrees and the Chinnor breeze at its mildest, conditions were perfect for running rugby. Chinnor were forced to make two changes to their starting line-up shortly before the kick-off with two players suffering injuries in the pre-match warm-up, and replacements were summoned from the second XV match on the adjacent pitch to take their place on the bench.

Esher kicked off but were immediately on the back foot as Chinnor fly-half Will Feeney returned the ball deep into the Esher half, where their fly-half Morley saw his clearance charged down by Chinnor lock James Down, but after Esher eventually cleared, Chinnor kicked the ball straight out.

Soon after, Chinnor’s pack rumbled slowly towards the Esher 22, and when the ball was released to the backs, wing Goss was tackled 10 metres short of the line, and scrum-half Carter then put a foot in touch. Esher butchered their line-out resulting in a line-out to Chinnor, and the home side secured their possession, but several drives were stopped on the Esher line. Feeney darted through a gap but was also denied but full-back Nick Smith was on hand to finish the move and convert his own try. 7-0 to Chinnor after 8 minutes.

Esher’s response saw Morley’s inside pass lead to a great break from wing Fitzgerald deep into the Chinnor 22. Chinnor defended at the expense of a penalty and a yellow card to prop McNulty and Esher kicked to the corner. Esher failed to make much of an impression with their rolling maul but Morley’s long pass to the blind side enabled wing Botterill to go over in the corner. With Morley’s conversion sliding wide, the score became 7-5 after 14 minutes.

The game was end to end at this stage. A Chinnor move ended with a knock-on inside the Esher 22 after which Esher scrum-half Pierre Thompson stepped inside a potential tackler to make ground into the Chinnor half only for another knock-on to end a promising attack. Chinnor wing Goss then raced down the touchline but when Chinnor spread play to the other wing they were penalised for crossing inside the 22 with the try line beckoning.

When Esher kicked long, Feeney failed to catch and knocked on inside his 22. The Esher scrum was going forward but was eventually halted, but Morley scampered around the outside to go over in the far corner for his side’s second try. This time Morley’s kick slid wide of the other post so it was 7-10 after 25 minutes.

Chinnor were soon back on the attack and Hodson made ground down the wing to within 15 metres of the try line, and after the forwards had several attempts to get over the white-wash, fly-half Feeney had a go and when tackled, was able to off-load to Jason Worrall to score close to the posts. Smith’s conversion took the score to 14-10 with 32 minutes played.

The lead changed hands again three minutes later when Esher wing Ben Fitzgerald made a run from half-way to score a fine solo try near to the posts, and Morley’s straightforward conversion made it 14-17. It got even better for the visitors when centre Jack Walsh gathered a loose ball, evaded the attempted tackle by Hodson and ran from inside his own half under the posts for another solo try through Chinnor’s non-existent defence. Morley’s conversion was followed by the half-time whistle so Esher went into the interval with a 24-14 lead and the try bonus point.

With the sun starting to set and the breeze starting to get stronger, the floodlights came on during the break. Chinnor were probably on the receiving end of some strong words in their dressing room and started the second half strongly. After three minutes of play virtually all in the Esher 22, Feeney danced between two tacklers to run home from the 22 metre line but with Smith’s relatively easy kick hitting the post the score was only 19-24.

Play then featured some kicking tennis, which ended with Chinnor kicking out on the full. Lock Down stole the line-out for Chinnor but although Goss was able to run to the Esher 22, the home side were penalized at the breakdown. Then, after both sides lost possession, Fitzgerald then chipped ahead to threaten another score for Esher but the ball was knocked on.

Esher then had a spell of sustained pressure and although one move ended with a knock-on by Fitzgerald 15 metres out, a tremendous spell of ball in hand for what seemed to be a couple of minutes resulted in Thompson playing in Botterill to score a fabulous team try in the corner. Morley’s excellent conversion close to the touch-line took the score to 19-31 with 23 minutes remaining.

Chinnor hit-back immediately and after a number of close-range drives, the forwards eventually forced their way over, and prop McNulty was credited with the score for the try bonus point. With normal kicker Smith having been substituted, Feeney took over the kicking duties and slotted over the conversion to bring the score to 26-31 with 20 minutes left on the clock.

Esher then forced a penalty mid-way in the Chinnor half, and opted to go for the posts, and Morley’s successful effort to them 8 points clear.

McNulty then went on a storming run breaking through some weak tackling but after getting inside the Esher 22 the prop lacked the confidence to back himself to get to the try line, but his attempted pass to his supporting wing was intercepted. Esher’s defensive work continued to impress and after a fine tackle stopped Hodson’s dangerous run to the 22, the backrow won turnover ball, and the clearing kick was then dropped by Feeney in the Chinnor half to relieve the pressure with a scrum to Esher.

The visitors won a penalty at the scrum, Thompson’s quick tap took him close to the try line and with possession recycled, Morley fed centre Myles Rawstron-Rudd to run in unopposed. With Morley again adding the extras, the score went to 26-41 and Chinnor needing 3 scores in the final 9 minutes.

From the restart the Esher maul was held up, and from the scrum Worrall was able to get to within 5 metres of the line. After a few drives, the forwards barged over and number 8 Willie Ryan emerging with the ball. The score moved to 33-41.

Chinnor’s hopes of a grandstand finish to claim a losing bonus point, or even more, in the final 6 or so minutes, floundered on a series of unforced errors. A desperate back move saw a forward dam-buster pass, a line-out in the Esher half was not straight and then Walsh failed to field a high ball and knocked on. The match ended with Esher in the Chinnor 22 looking to add to their lead but after winning a penalty at the scrum they opted to kick the ball off the field to end the match to earn their first victory of the season.

In fairness, Esher fully deserved to win this entertaining encounter, and with the fine form of their dangerous back-line it was surprising that they were so low in the table. With 11 tries scored it was unusual that not one of them came from a 5 metre line-out and rolling maul.

Despite the defeat, Chinnor’s one point took them above Leeds Tykes and out of the bottom three. However, they look to in for a hard struggle to avoid the drop.

Highlights : https://www.chinnor-rfc.com/videos/trylights--chinnor-v-esher-184656.html

  




 

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