February 4, 2023
Today saw the rescheduled fixture between Chinnor and Bishop’s Stortford which was originally scheduled to have been played on December 10, 2022 but fell victim to a frozen pitch. Had the game gone ahead as planned it would have almost a year to the day since Bishop’s Stortford last paid a visit to Kingsey Road, when they won more comfortably than the 23-19 score might suggest. That match was covered by these diaries.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2021/12/chinnor-19-23-bishops-stortford-att-422.html
Bishop’s Stortford and Chinnor are long-standing rivals, both from their days in National Two South, and after promotions to National League One. Stortford have an excellent record over Chinnor with four wins from seven matches in Thame, and have won 6 out of 7 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 a National Two South promotion battle remains Chinnor’s highest ever home attendance.
Stortford started the day in seventh place with eight wins, seven losses and a draw, but ten try bonus points from 16 matches underlined their attacking potential. They had also chalked up five losing bonus points from their seven losses.
Last time out Stortford drew 34-34 at Birmingham Moseley, and lost 10-13 at home to Rosslyn Park prior to that. Ominously for Chinnor, all of Stortford’s defeats had come in all of their meetings with the current top 5, but they were unbeaten against everyone else !
Historically, Stortford sides have had a relatively light-weight but mobile pack, vulnerable in the scrums, but a highly efficient line-out and very effective in the loose and at rucks. They also liked to play an expansive game to exploit a potent set of backs. However, last year their pack also had the edge in the scrums over Chinnor, so the home side looked set for a tough afternoon.
Chinnor followed up their impressive floodlight victory over Rosslyn Park with a gritty 37-29 win at Birmingham Moseley, coming back from 13-26 down to take 5 points and register a third win on the trot. That result took Chinnor further away from the danger zone, but a 12-28 defeat on the road at Plymouth Albion left them only one place above the relegation zone, albeit 5 points clear of Leeds with one game less played.
Due to the England vs Scotland international, today’s kick-off was unusually at 14.30 rather than 15.00, so as to enable spectators to be able watch the Calcutta Cup afterwards.
The temperature at kick-off was 9 degrees on a dry, cloudy day and the infamous Chinnor breeze was strangely absent.
Chinnor suffered a set-back prior to the kick-off, when lock Conor Brockschmidt pulled up injured and had to be replaced by prop Josh McNulty. That would potentially limit their options at the line-out.
Stortford kicked off and immediately pinned Chinnor into their own 22. Feeney’s attempted clearing kick went straight down full-back Powell’s throat and the ex-Plymouth Albion man made a great run to 10 metres out. Although stopped, Chinnor were offside at the ruck.
Stortford kicked to the corner and Chinnor infringed again in defending the rolling maul. Stortford were held up short of the line, and eventually released the ball to fly-half Dan Cole, who looked up and spotted wing Chris Smith in acres of space, and a precision kick gave the wing a simple catch to cross in the corner. With the conversion missed, Stortford led 5-0 after 4 minutes.
Chinnor responded by winning a penalty near half-way for not rolling away, and kicked to take play into the Stortford 22. Unfortunately for the home side, the line-out was thrown too long, and Stortford’s Ryan Jackson claimed to launch a counter-attack, making ground to his 10 metre lines before giving the ball to his backs to make further ground and then kick into Chinnor’s 22. A fortunate bounce allowed Worrall to gather for Chinnor, but Stortford piled on the pressure.
After 9 minutes Chinnor produced their first dangerous move of the game. Flanker Heathman won a turnover, and Carter, Smith and Worrall all combined to launch Hammond on a sizzling run down the touchline and into Stortford’s 22 but the move ended with a knock-on. Chinnor’s pack sent the visitor’s eight backwards at the scrum but scrum half Connor Lloyd was able to get his pass away under pressure and Stortford were able to clear to midway in their half.
At the next scrum the referee awarded a free-kick in favour of the Stortford pack and a quick tap by Lloyd sent him scuttling into the Chinnor half. When Chinnor won possession, Feeney kicked it straight back to the Stortford three-quarters, and Chinnor were caught offside as Stortford ran back into the Chinnor half. Again, Lloyd took a quick tap and was illegally halted by Chinnor number 8 Willie Ryan, who was given 10 minutes on the sidelines to reflect on the error of his ways.
Waves of Stortford probes were repelled and when their forwards allowed their backs to have go instead, Powell was bundled into touch a few metres from the line. With nearly 20 minutes played it was all Stortford.
Chinnor had a brief respite when scrum half Carter went down the blind-side and his pass to Goss enabled the winger to burst past his marker and approach the Stortford 22. However, the Stortford back-row were able to turnover the ball and the visitors cleared, and after they stole the line-out, on-loan Saracens centre Francis Moore strode through several would-be tacklers to progress to 10 metres from the line, but Jason Worrall made a greater tackle and win a penalty for not releasing.
Stortford threathened again when Carter’s clearing kick was charged down, but the ball fell kindly for full-back Nick Smith to gather. The home defence continued to be under pressure, but held firm, and the return of Ryan meant they had survived the 10 minutes without conceding any more points.
After a period of scrappy play when neither side seemed able to secure clean possession, Chinnor finally got their hands on the ball near half-way and Blakemore’s long-pass was athletically caught by Worrall who broke into the Stortford 22. Several drives were kept at bay by the desperate defence, but the pressure eventually told, and Ryan barged over close to the posts to leave Smith with a simple conversion. Remarkably Chinnor led 7-5 on 30 minutes after hardly being in the game.
With their tails up, Chinnor threatened again. Carter’s high kick was won by Goss in an aerial challenge, for Feeney to kick deep into Stortford territory. Although the visitor’s won their line-up they kicked to Hammond who fed Smith for an incisive break and the return pass to Hammond took play back into the Stortford 22.
Stortford won another penalty at the scrum but failed to find touch, and again Hammond and Smith set-up another attack, enabling Feeney to kick close to the Stortford try line but Moore did well to keep the ball in play and kick to touch in the Chinnor half. The home side opted to take a quick line-out, but Smith was engulfed by several marauding Stortford players and conceded the penalty just inside the Chinnor half.
With three minutes to go before half-time, Stortford opted to go for the posts, and fly-half Cole stepped up to send a monster kick through the uprights to give his side an 8-7 lead.
Stortford were immediately back in the Chinnor 22 searching for another score before half-time, as a probing kick from Cole forced Smith to carry the ball into touch close to the Chinnor line. Stortford’s rolling maul appeared to have been halted but with the referee appearing to whistle for a penalty in their favour, Lloyd continued playing and dived over the white-wash. The scrum-half then converted his own try to give Stortford a 15-7 lead.
However, the first half scoring wasn’t over, and with added time being played, Stortford were caught offside when Feeney ran a kick back at them, and with the line-out from the penalty to the corner caught by Down, the rolling maul rumbled unstoppably over the line with substitute hooker Reece Marshall credited with the touchdown. Smith’s conversion crept over to bring the score to 14-15 at the interval, with Stortford probably wondering how their enterprising and expansive played hadn’t been rewarded with a greater lead.
A knock-on shortly after the restart gave Chinnor their first scrum of match, and they won a penalty as the Stortford scrum disintegrated. From the 5 metre line-out Heathman peeled off but was held up over the line. The resulting kick from behind the try line was charged down and Chinnor camped on the line. Eventually, the ball went wide, and wing Goss dived over to give Chinnor the lead for the first time in the match. Although the conversion was missed, it was now 19-15 after 47 minutes.
Stortford then enjoyed a good spell of possession and patiently probed for cracks in the Chinnor defence line as the went left, then right, left again and then right once more. Finally, Moore made the break but a good tackle by Goss prevented a try.
With 55 minutes on the clock, it was Chinnor’s turn to have a kick charged down, this time Feeney’s attempted clearance was blocked by Tierney, who reacted quickly to gather and saunter under the posts. Lloyd’s conversion put Stortford back in front at 22-19.
Chinnor’s response was immediate as they won a penalty from their restart into the Stortford 22. Again, Stortford didn’t have an answer to the rolling maul from the 5 metre line-out as Marshall claimed his second try of the match, and Smith’s conversion took the score to 26-22 to Chinnor.
Stortford again enjoyed a lot of possession in midfield without breaching the staunch Chinnor defence, and finally resorted to kicking long to force a drop-out from under the posts. Eventually, they forced a penalty near half-way and being 4 points behind and still needing a try for the bonus point they surprisingly went to go for the three points, but this time Cole’s long range effort was well short of the posts.
A minute later the advantage seemed to swing back to Stortford when Marshall was shown a yellow card for a high tackle, leaving Chinnor to play nearly all of the final 13 minutes a man down. Predicatably, Stortford were looking likely to score next but great defence forced a penalty and Chinnor we able to take play back into the Stortford half.
Chinnor had a scrum in the Stortford 22 and won a penalty. They opted for another scrum and looked to have scored but knocked on over the line. However, the referee had played advantage and another scrum followed. After the 3rd scrum penalty, the referee produced his card and prop Tristan Smith had to go off.
With no replacement prop available to come on, Tom McCrone having gone off injured in the first half, it meant uncontested scrums so Chinnor chose to go for the 5 metre line-out rather than scrum again. I thought that a side going to uncontested scrums had to lose a player, but Stortford remained with 14 players rather than 13, but it didn’t seem to matter much when hooker Darlington scored from the line-out and Smith’s conversion moved the score to 33-22.
The tannoy announcer informed that there were 4 minutes left to be played, for Stortford to get the try and losing bonus points, and a superb run from half-way by centre James Ayrton took him to within 10 minutes of the try-line. Although tackled he was able to pass to Cullen who after a little juggling held on to the ball and then offload to Roberts to score between the post. Lloyd added the extras and it was now game on at 33-29, and a tense finish was in store.
Although time was up, Stortford managed to keep the ball alive and kept searching for a way out of their half. Chinnor’s defence was good, but finally they conceded a penalty and Stortford were able to kick into Chinnor’s half. Unfortunately for the visitors, Down stole the line-out and Carter was able to kick into touch to clinch an important 5 point victory for Chinnor. Stortford will probably be ruing their inability to convert possession into points, and being unable to halt Chinnor’s 5 metre rolling mauls.
Highlights : https://www.chinnor-rfc.com/videos/trylights--chinnor-v-bishops-stortford-186853.html
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