September 2, 2023
Rugby was finally back with the opening round of fixtures in the National League. Today’s game at Kingsey Road was a repeat of the last game of the 2022/23 season where the two sides ended the season with a 38-29 victory for Chinnor, which saw them finish in 8th place, and DMP in 10th.
The sides had met in the opening game of the 2022/23, where DMP prevailed at home 23-16. Clearly the league think it is best to get the 700 mile round trips out of the way in the good weather at the start and end of the seasons !
This was the 5th visit of Darlington to Thame, with both sides having two wins each. In addition to last season, Chinnor won 37-27 in 2019/20, whilst DMP won 31-26 in 2018/19 and 23-20 in 2021/22
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2021/10/chinnor-20-23-darlington-mowden-park.html
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2020/01/chinnor-37-27-darlington-mowden-park.html
Pre-season DMP won 26-12 at Hawick and 45-21 at home to Hull. In-between they had an odd-looking fixture playing a side in the same division, losing 24-28 at Birmingham Moseley.
South African fly-half/centre Warren Seals left DMP in the summer and joined Sedgley Park. He first played for DMP in 2015 and was the Division’s top points scorer in the curtailed 2020/21 season with an incredible 267 points. Full-back Chris McTurk retired whilst centre/wing Morgan Pressman joined Chinnor ! Their website reported that 6 players were making their debut for the club today.
Chinnor saw several players retire in the close season, including hooker Reece Marshall, lock James Down, centre Dean Hammond and back-row forward Ben Manning. Prop Josh Pieterse joined Rosslyn Park.
However, Chinnor were able to retain the core of last season’s squad to which prop Rob Hardwick rejoined, having played 12 matches during a loan spell from Wasps in 2021/22, together with lock Shak Sherriff, who played three time whilst on loan from London Scottish in 2019. Also returning was centre/wing James Bourton, who played 24 times in 2021 on loan from Ealing and amassed 176 points in the black and white shirt.
Other notable signings included hooker Alun Walker after 9 seasons at Ealing Trailfinders, and ex-Harlequins lock George Merrick, who joined from French side Carcassonne. New flanker George Stokes was also an ex-DMP player facing his former side today.
Chinnor played two pre-season matches, a 67-12 home win over National League 2 East Wimbledon, and an impressive looking 33-19 win at Cambridge, last season’s National One Champions.
Temperatures at the 15.00 kick-off time were around 22 degrees and once the traditional Chinnor breeze dropped it was unusually very warm !
Ticket for the match were £14 online ( £11 for members ) or £15 at the gate, £12 members and £10 OAPs/Concessions. Building work to extend the viewing balcony in front of the clubhouse had progressed but had not been completed in time for today’s match.
DMP were in their usual blue and white hooped shirts with black shirts, and interestingly all of Chinnor’s replacements were forwards, perhaps in anticipation of the sapping heat ?
DMP kicked off and immediately Chinnor lock Merrick dropped the ball, but the referee played advantage and Chinnor infringed at the ruck. DMP’s line-out was not straight but from Chinnor’s scrum, DMP scrum half Callum Pascoe got a hand to Carter’s attempted pass and the visitors won possession. Centre Ben Frankland made a strong break only to be tackled short of the line and when the ball was recycled, DMP were penalised for not releasing.
Chinnor won their line-out and chipped ahead to the DMP 22 but were pinged by the referee for going in over the top. DMP cleared to half-way, and Chinnor again infringed. Although DMP didn’t make much ground with their kick to touch, the home side infringed again with a high tackle.
DMP won their line-out inside Chinnor’s 22 and centre Frankland made an impressive break and off-loaded to fellow centre Harry Yates. Although tackled short of the line, Yates was able to offload to Franklin following up, and he was able to dive for the line, just putting the ball over the whitewash. Fly-half Josh Ree added the extra to make in 0-7 after 9 minutes.
Chinnor’s response was ended by a forward pass from fly-half Price, and DMP’s attacking reply ended with a dropped pass. However, Chinnor were penalised again, presumably for a high tackle, and after pointing to the posts, Ree extended DMP’s lead to 0-10 with 13 minutes played.
Chinnor’s ill-disciplined start continued as Price kicked the restart long and DMP had a scrum on half-way. Shortly after Chinnor won a penalty at a ruck and kicked inside the DMP 22. The maul rumbled forward after securing possession and after being brought down, two drives for the line were repelled. The ball was thrown wide to Bourton, now a peroxide blonde, lurking on the touch-line and although he slipped, he was able to get back on his feet, break through the covering defenders and dive over in the corner. With the conversion from Price drifting wide it was now 5-10 with 14 minutes played.
Chinnor gathered the restart and kicked long, forcing DMP to touchdown in goal and have a drop kick from under their posts. Chinnor claimed the kick and pressed for the try-line but Lines couldn’t ground the ball with his dive for the line and knocked on.
DMP were unable to get out of their half as Chinnor continued to attack but after DMP were penalised for an offside, a hand in the line-out secured them possession and they were again able to clear to midway inside their own half.
Chinnor launched a flowing move along their backs, and Passman was able to scorch past Hadfield down the touchline, but was illegally stopped inside the DMP 22. Chinnor again kicked to 5 metres but the throw was too long, and after a scramble and two knock-ons, it was a scrum 5 to DMP. Although the Chinnor pack produced a good drive, the DMP forwards were able to secure possession and Walker set-off on a counter-attack. However, DMP infringed again, and play was back to their 5-metre line.
Chinnor again squandered their line-out by throwing too long, and flanker Wharton was shown a yellow card for a dangerous tackle in his efforts to retrieve the situation.
In the 31st minute Chinnor won a turnover and Bourton and Feeney both made yards deep into DMP territory, but after the ball was spun wide wing Goss dropped near the line for another 5 metre scrum for DMP by their try line. Again, their scrum was solid and they were able to clear their lines.
The impressive Frankland made another break through the centre of the Chinnor defence and his pass to Hadfield took them back to the Chinnor 22. However, an attempted chip ahead hit the legs of a Chinnor defender and was fly-hacked back to half-way.
Another infringement by the visitors enabled Chinnor to kick deep into DMP’s 22. The rolling maul rumbled towards the try-line but after being stopped, Smith’s snipping run was blocked and he lost possession in the tackle. The home side continued to press, but DMP won the turnover.
There was still time in the first half for Chinnor to butcher another line-out, and DMP gleefully kicked the ball of the end the half with a 10-5 lead.
The second half started with the DMP pack again holding steady at a scrum, and Pascoe went off on a run from his own 22 to the Chinnor 22 but after an interchange of passes Frankland dropped the ball with the try-line at his mercy. It could well have been the pivotal moment in the game, as a score under the post would have given DMP a 12 point lead…….
Chinnor continued to press, but continued to undo the good work by conceding penalties. Darlington fly-half Ree broke through two weak tackles but couldn’t find a pass, and Chinnor came back with a flowing backs move, but Bourton was illegally tackled.
Chinnor failed to find touch for a 5 metre line-out but they soon won a scrum penalty and this time did have a 5 metre line-out. Possession was won, and the rolling maul was unstoppable and the home pack crashed over, and hooker Alun Walker was credited with the try. With a missed conversion it was now 10-10 with 49 minutes played.
DMP had a boost a few minutes later when Chinnor scrum-half Carter was shown the yellow card after knocking on whilst trying to intercept a pass, and they had a 5 metre line-out. However, Chinnor managed to steal possession and eventually were able to clear. DMP continued to attack but Chinnor defended well, and won another scrum penalty.
DMP seemed to panic a little and flanker Fantini needlessly handled in the ruck and was shown the yellow card to level the numbers. Yet again, the Chinnor line-out was poor, but they were able to gather the ball and after good hands from Smith and Bourton, Feeney stepped inside then out, to beat the DMP defence to score in the corner for a fabulous individual try. The conversion from the touchline by Price was good so Chinnor led 17-10 after 59 minutes.
DMP were not finished yet though, and won another penalty to take play deep into the Chinnor half, but after winning the line-out and pressing, Chinnor forced a turnover.
A good run by Price took play back into DMP territory and a good jackal by centre Bourton secured ball for Chinnor, and they were back at the 5 metre line.
The next round of substitutions saw flanker Clementson move to centre as Chinnor emptied their bench to add more forward power. DMP launched another counter-attack from deep but a forward pass ended the danger.
Chinnor wasted another penalty by kicking long and another high tackle enabled DMP to take play back-up to half-way. Although Chinnor stole the line-out, another high tackle kept the visitors on the front foot but the Chinnor defence was up to the task to win more turnover ball.
With the clock ticking, flanker Wharton made a tremendous break, and with the ball passed out wide to Goss, the Chinnor wing dived over in the corner to secure the try bonus point and the win for the home side with the score 22-10 with three minutes remaining. The missed conversion was academic and the final few minutes petered out.
At the final whistle, the score was perhaps a bit hard on Darlington who probably deserved to take something from the game, although Chinnor were worthy winners. Despite both sides showing glimpses off enterprising play, in truth it wasn’t a great game, and both sides were guilty of conceding too many penalties, perhaps as they still come to terms with the new tackle laws implemented at this level.
Highlights : https://www.mowdenpark.com/videos/highlights--chinnor-v-dmp-189784.html
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