March 18, 2023
Today’s visitors to Kingsey Road were Leeds Tykes, whose last visit was in March 2022 when they lost 27-36 in an entertaining game which was covered by these diaries.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2023/02/chinnor-33-29-bishops-stortford-att-250.html
This fixture was originally scheduled to be played in January but fell victim to the cold weather, and was called off 2 hours before kick-off due to part of the pitch remaining frozen, which was about 10 minutes after I had purchased my on-line ticket for the match !
After losing their first three games of the season, Leeds won three matches in a row, 26-24 at Esher, 27-24 at home to Chinnor and 27-22 at Hull. Since then though they have been on a run of 14 games with just one win ( 36-12 at home to Hull ), but they did grab two home draws, 17-17 with high flying Cambridge and 21-21 with Birmingham Moseley.
Consequently, Leeds were rooted in 13th place in the table staring relegation in the face, 14 points adrift of Taunton in the safety of 11th place, but with two games in hand. Today represented a must win to retain any distant hopes of avoiding relegation.
Chinnor have been through some lows and some highs since these diaries covered their 33-29 victory over Bishop’s Stortford early in February. Three consecutive losses, Rams 31-50 ( A ), Taunton 28-50 ( H ) and Sales 17-27 ( A ) left them nervously looking towards the drop zone, and it was looking bad at half-time at home to Cinderford, trailing 12-22. However, a transformation in the second-half put Chinnor in the lead 26-22 and the 5 points were secured after Cinderford, unusually for them, butchered a 5 metre line-out with the last play off the match.
Chinnor then travelled to Esher for a proverbial 10-point relegation battle in their 5th match of the season under floodlights on a Friday evening. Again, they trailed by a significant deficit at half-time, this time 5-22, but for the second week running they blanked the opposition in the second half and a penalty try 5 minutes from the end saw another 5 point victory.
Chinnor started today in 9th place, and another 5 point win would just about ensure National League One rugby for next season with 4 games still to be played.
The journey from Leeds to Thame is around 175 miles, which would normally take around three hours by road.
After a morning of rain, the weather was sunny, and the temperature around 11 degrees at the 15.00 kick-off, with more scattered showers forecast for later in the afternoon. Thankfully these didn’t materialise.
Leeds were playing in a stylish all white kit, which would keep their laundry person busy cleaning for next week given today’s muddy conditions !
Chinnor, with 5 players who had progressed from their mini & junior sections in their match-day squad, were quickly on the front foot, and opened the scoring with barely a minute on the clock. With Leeds perhaps still mentally on the bus, Down claimed a line-out and scrum-half Carter burst through a huge gap in mid-field but was tackled just short of the line. Chinnor won the ruck and hooker Reece Marshall crashed over from close range near to the posts, to leave fly-half Tom Price with an easy conversion.
Leeds were still not in the game a few minutes later when Price charged down an attempted clearing kick but with a score looking inevitable the referee blew for a penalty to Leeds, perhaps for off-side. The visitors were not reprieved for long though, as in the 7th minute, Chinnor attacked from a scrum, and this time wing Jason Worrall scythed through the non-existent mid-field defence and then gave a simple pass for ex-London Broncos centre Will Blakemore to run in under the posts for his first try for Chinnor. With another easy conversion for Price, Chinnor led 14-0.
Leeds were still under the cosh, but a break from their 22 involving flanker Grayson Maguire and scrum-half Ewan Laughton was illegally stopped, and Chinnor’s Cave was shown the yellow card for the offence.
With 13 minutes played Leeds kicked a penalty to the corner and from the resulting catch and drive they looked to have scored. After a period of confusion, a penalty to Leeds was awarded and another line-out ensued. However, second-time around, it was not straight so Chinnor survived. After Leeds were deemed to off-side at the subsequent scrum, Chinnor were able to clear to the half-way line.
After 19 minutes Leeds attempted a short-line out to the prop at the head of the line-out but it was knocked-on. This was to be a tactic that was to be repeated several times during the match.
Chinnor won a free-kick at the scrum and full-back Nick Smith made a good break deep into the Leeds 22. After a series of drives, centre Grant Hughes was tackled just short of the line, but flanker Max Heathman dropped the ball over the line in the tackle to give the visitors a drop-kick from behind their try line.
Chinnor continued to dominate and Worrall cut in from the touch line only to be tackled short of the try line and Chinnor knocked on after reworking the ball. This time Leeds’ line-out to the front off the line succeeded but they knocked on in mid-field when trying to spread the ball. From the scrum, Chinnor’s Fijian winger Pita Ratukadreu stormed into the Leeds 22 but Leeds won turnover ball.
After 32 minutes another Leeds handling error lead to another Chinnor scrum, from which Chinnor full-back Nick Smith made his way to the Leeds 22, and after drives from Berry and prop Keston Lines were well defended, both sides knocked on.
Another dangerous Chinnor attack saw a Chinnor kick ahead touched down in their own in-goal area by a Leeds defender before Hughes could get to it, for another drop-kick under the Leeds posts.
As half-time approached, Leeds centre Tom Williams was adjudged to have made a high tackle and saw a yellow card for his troubles. Chinnor kicked to the corner and after a series of drives close to line, Price sent a long pass to Smith who had an easy pass to Worrall on the overlap to score in the corner. A fantastic conversion from the touch-line by Price made the score to 21-0 as the referee blew the half-time whistle.
Leeds enjoyed a good spell of possession at the start of the second half and were able to make their way to the Chinnor 22, although without creating any incisive break against some solid Chinnor defending.
A poor clearing kick by Chinnor resulted in Leeds wing Harry Jukes being on the end of a high tackle. Leeds rolling maul after the penalty was kicked to the corner was well defended, and Chinnor were awarded a scrum. However, as Chinnor attempted to move the ball from the scrum, the pass went straight to Leeds lock John Okafor, who strolled to the line to open Leeds’ account. Fly-half Tighe Maxwell-Whiteley, who sounds like someone more suitable to a Harlequins line-up, added the conversion to bring the score to 21-7 after 48 minutes.
Chinnor’s response was for Nick Smith to gather a kick ahead and beat three defenders to get to the Leeds 22, only to be illegally stopped. The penalty was kicked to the corner but Leeds stole the line-out, only for the clearing kick to be charged down by Price, who gathered the loose ball to dive under the posts. Price converted his own try to take the score to 28-7 after 51 minutes.
Ratukadreu then played a game of football to kick the ball into the Leeds 22, but with the try line at his mercy, he completely missed the final kick and Leeds eventually won a penalty to clear their lines.
Leeds then enjoyed another good spell of possession, and after a period camped in the Chinnor 22, number 8 Matt Burke dived over near the corner. Maxwell-Whiteley’s conversion slid wide as the score moved to 28-12 after 58 minutes.
Leeds continued to have the upper-hand, and after a chip ahead, they regained possession, and after spreading the ball through the backs, full-back Charlie Venables crossed in the corner for the visitor’s third try. The conversion again slid wide as the score became 28-17 after 65 minutes.
Chinnor made their way back to the Leeds 22, and Worrall and Ryan were both stopped short close to the line, and when it looked like the home side must score Okafor transgressed and was shown a yellow card for preventing the try. Chinnor took a tap-penalty, and Ryan barged over close to the posts, and Price added another straight-forward conversion. It was now 35-17 with just over 10 minutes remaining.
Scrum-half Carter went close to adding another try for Chinnor with a sniping run close to the try-line but his off-load hit James Down and was knocked-on. Chinnor continued to strive for another score but the Leeds defence successfully saw off two more 5 metre line-outs and rolling mauls to win a penalty.
Needing a try to get the four try bonus point, Leeds attempted to run the ball from their own line but failed to get out of their 22. Eventually, a mis-placed pass was intercepted by Worrall who cantered to the try-line, and with Price again adding the extras the referee blew the final whistle to conclude the match with the score 42-17 to Chinnor.
The 5 point win for Chinnor took them up to 8th place in the table, and being 12 points ahead of Esher with 4 matches still to be played, three of them at home, Chinnor should be able to look forward to National League One rugby again next season. For Leeds, it is looking increasingly bleak, being 14 points points adrift of safety, albeit with a game in hand, but just 5 games left to play.
Highlights : https://www.chinnor-rfc.com/videos/trylights--chinnor-v-leeds-tykes-188587.html
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment