December 15, 2023
Preamble
Tonight saw a meeting between Second versus First in National League One, with one point separating the two sides in the table. It was also a fierce local derby between two sides, who actually seem to get on well with each other, having risen up the leagues together to currently be amongst the top 30 sides in the country.
In the last 21 matches between the two sides, it had been 10 wins each with one draw. However, Rams have had the edge over the past couple of years.
It was also the 6th meeting between the two sides under Friday Night Lights, with Rams having won all three times they were the hosts, whilst it was one win each at Kingsey Road. In the first ever floodlight encounter at Chinnor back in January 2020, and perhaps the most memorable encounter between the two clubs, Rams edged home 21-17 thanks to a line-out steal by lock Ollie Taylor at a 5-metre line-out on the final play to deny Chinnor a potentially match winning score.
In April 2022, Chinnor won 43-40 after a breath-taking game of 13 tries, where the lead changed hands 8 times, and the winning try came with time up on the scoreboard clock.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2020/01/chinnor-17-21-rams-att-1020.html
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2022/04/chinnor-43-40-rams-att-877-national.html
When the sides met in Sonning in the second week of this season in September, in a game live streamed over the internet, Chinnor led 19-7 early in the second half, but Rams came on strong in the second half to lead 24-19 with seconds remaining. Chinnor unwisely chose to kick out of defence rather than keep ball in hand, and a poor kick down the throat of the dangerous Henry Bird resulted in a swift counter-attack and a try to give a final score of 29-19, and deny Chinnor a losing point. Without that try, the sides would have been level on points in the table at the start of today !
Rams started the season with 6 straight wins before surprisingly slipping up 24-26 at lowly Leicester Lions. They then lost at home to Darlington Mowden Park and then at Sale, who were bottom of the league at the time. However, they recovered to win their last 4 games, and last week there were 87 points in their fixture at Richmond, with Rams coming away with a 47-40 victory. Before that, a 79th minute penalty from fly-half Fraser Honey saw Rams squeeze past Plymouth Albion 22-20 at Old Bath Road.
Rams had scored an impressive 430 points in their 13 games to date, with hooker Max Hayman scoring 13 tries and Fraser Honey, formerly of Bury St Edmunds, Plymouth Albion and Redruth, had collected 92 points from the boot. Prop James Baker has made over 400 appearances for Rams, and scrum-half Ed Hoadley played 17 times for Chinnor during loans from London Scottish in 2017/18 and 2018/19, but missed out tonight after starting last week.
Chinnor’s points total from their 13 games was an even more impressive 465, with an incredible 238 points difference. Their top try scorer was also a hooker, Alun Walker, also with 13 tries, whilst centre James Bourton had scored 84 points, but had recently relinquished first choice kicking duties to young Bath loanee George Worboys.
With both sides averaging over 33 points per game, a high scoring encounter looked to be on the cards !
Matchday Information
Chinnor’s record home attendance was the 1,580 that attended a promotion battle against Bishop’s Stortford in 2016/17, but the social media posts from both Rams and Chinnor hinted this could be exceeded tonight.
In anticipation of a large crowd, a curtain raiser between the club’s Under 13s kicked-off at 6pm, street vendors for pizza, crepes and burgers had been organised, and discounts on lager were available before 7pm. A DJ was also playing from 6pm, although personally that would have delayed my entry to the ground ! With the DJ inflicting festive songs on the growing crowd there was fortunately a power cut to halt the music, but it also put-out one row of floodlights on pitch 3 to bring a premature halt to the junior game being played on that pitch.
After a dry day, temperatures at the 19.45 kick-off time were around 6 degrees but perhaps surprisingly it didn’t feel as cold as it sometimes can be at Chinnor.
Rams were in their change kit of red with blue trim with Chinnor in their usual black and white.
Match Report
Rams kicked off towards the Showground end with a light breeze behind their backs. They won a penalty at the first scrum of the match and kicked into the Chinnor 22, and although they secured their possession, the move down the blind side was knocked into touch after a poor pass. Merrick won the line-out for Chinnor and their pack drove out of their 22 only for Rams to drive them back, but the referee spotted an infringement and awarded a penalty to the home side.
The clearing kick was caught in the wind so failed to make much yardage. Merrick again dominated the line-out and good hands from Bourton and Passman gave Feeney the space to run to the Rams 22 metre line. Rams gained possession and counter-attacked but a good tackle led to a knock-on to give Chinnor a scrum mid-way inside the Rams half.
Despite a good shove by the Chinnor forwards, Rams Number 8 Robbie Stapley was able to pick-up and drive to give the visitors a platform to attack, but after spreading the ball along the backs, good home defence prevented any ground being conceded, leading to the decision by Rams to kick for territory. Chinnor ran the ball back at Rams but a knock-on gave Rams a scrum close to the half-way line. 10 minutes had been played.
Stapley again went from the base of the scrum but the referee judged there had been a forward pass to give Chinnor a scrum. Play became scrappy as Chinnor searched for a way through the Rams defence and a good rip by a Rams forward lead to a ruck, at which Chinnor were off their feet. After a quick tap, the Chinnor defence had failed to retreat 10 metres so conceded another penalty, which was kicked to 5 metres.
Rams were now camped close to the Chinnor try line but after two 5 metre line-outs, they dropped the ball to give Chinnor a scrum 5 metres from their line. However, an impressive drive from the Rams pack forced the Chinnor forwards backwards and they had to touch down in their own in-goal area.
The subsequent 5 metre scrum for Rams was solid, but after three drives towards the line, flanker Ben Atkins crashed over the whitewash for the opening try of the games, and Honey’s conversion from in front of the posts took the scoreline to 0-7 after 20 minutes.
The big hits continued to come from the Rams forwards to gain possession, and a great run by wing Charlie Robson took play into the Chinnor 22, and with a penalty advantage, Rams squandered a good position with a loose pass directly into touch. However, the penalty was kicked to the corner, but although their line-out was won, a lack of care by the Rams forwards led to the ball being dropped and Chinnor were awarded a penalty.
Rams infringed at the line-out enabling Chinnor to work their way down the field, and another infringement after Merrick again won the line-out, saw the home team continue to make progress. Scrum-half Carter made a break and off-loaded to Number 8 Willie Ryan in support, who got to within 5 metres. The recycled ball went through several pair of hands before Carter was able to cross the line for a try, which Worboys superbly converted from out wide to level the scores at 7-7 after 28 minutes. All this had come after Rams had lost possession from their 5 metre lineout for effectively a 14 point swing.
Rams’ full-back Henry Bird impressively claimed a high ball, but again the Rams backs dropped the ball as they looked to go wide. With the ball deemed to have gone backwards, play continued, Chinnor won turnover ball, and then a scorching run sent them towards the try-line only to be held-up over the try-line for a drop-out to Rams under their own posts.
Chinnor gathered the restart but an attempted pass hit the head of Chinnor player for Rams to regain possession. A couple of knock-ons led to a Rams scrum on half-way but a free-kick was awarded to Chinnor at the scrum, which was taken quickly as Chinnor attacked again, and a deliberate knock-on by Robson to prevent an overlap resulted in a yellow card to the Rams wing. Fortunately for Rams, the kick for the corner by Worboys went too long, to give the visitors the scrum.
Pressure from Chinnor yielded a penalty near half-way which they kicked deep into the Rams 22. Rams illegally brough down the resulting maul for another penalty, which was kicked to 5 metres. Chinnor appeared to have scored from the line-out but the referee wasn’t satisfied and gave another penalty to Chinnor. This time a quick tap was taken, and after several drives for the line, Bourton was able to wriggle over to give the home side the lead. With Worboys adding the extras with the last kick of the half, the score was 14-7 at half-time.
In an attempt to dominate the set-pieces, at the start of the second half Rams brought on front-row substitutes Maris and Baker, referred to as “The Bomb Squad” by the large number of Rams supporters around me, and initially Rams saw a lot of the ball as they moved to the left and then to the right, but good defence saw them fail to make much ground. The Rams faithful were surprised when Chinnor won a penalty at the first scrum of the half, which took them deep into the Rams 22.
Merrick again won the line-out as Chinnor drove for another try but a counter drive forced Chinnor back and earned a penalty for Rams, which they kicked to midway in their half. However, their line-out was thrown far too long. The ball found its way to centre Passman, who burst through several tackles but was brought down short of the try-line. Chinnor went wide and after a couple of drives were repulsed, lock Brockschmidt was finally able to dive over the line, and Worboys’ conversion was again good. 21-7 after 47 minutes
Chinnor sent the restart deep back into the Rams 22, where substitute George Makepeace-Cubitt gathered and set-off on a sizzling run down the touch-line, but fortunately for the home side, he had put a foot in touch to end a dangerous looking move. Passman again went on a barnstorming run through the heart of the Rams defence, needing several tacklers to bring him down, after which Carter kicked into space behind the flat defence, only for Makepeace-Cubitt to pick-up and make-off on another lively run. However, Chinnor’s defence was able to prevent him from leaving the 22.
A period of spellbinding play from both sides followed, ending with Feeney sending a bouncing kick into touch close to the Rams try-line. Rams won their line-out ball to clear to their 22, from which Brockschmidt won the Chinnor line-out. Hooker Walker tried to make ground but was halted by a ferocious hit but Chinnor continued to keep play in the Rams 22.
Eventually Rams’ Kalling-Smith was able to make a break to take play towards the half-way line, but they were unable to break the shackles as the Chinnor defence was proving to be impregnable as Rams moved play from side to side. When replacement scrum-half Ollie Monye looked as if he had found a way through, he dropped the ball when trying to off-load.
Rams looked increasingly desperate and appeared to be trying to force something to happen rather than staying patient. Monye made another half-break, and when the Rams backs looked to move the ball wide, a poor pass was difficult for centre Ellis Jones to hold onto, and the ball was spilt for another knock-on.
Rams won a penalty at the scrum, and some back-chat from Chinnor added another 10 yards, enabling Rams to get to 5 metres from the Chinnor try line. Again, the Chinnor defence was strong, forcing Rams to go wide and although Callum Scott looked to be close to making a breakthrough, he knocked on in the tackle for a 5 metre scrum to Chinnor.
In a repeat of the first half, the Rams pack again produced a good shove on a Chinnor defensive 5 metre scrum and won a penalty. Incredibly, after having won a scrum penalty against the head, Rams decided to go for a tap and drive rather than another scrum. Another penalty was awarded, and again Rams declined to go for the scrum or a 5 metre line-out, but again the home defence was strong, and when Rams lost control of the ball, it was hacked clear towards the half-way line. It felt line this was the turning point in the match, and Rams had blown their chance to get back into the game.
Rams then lost another line-out, and then another for not straight as Chinnor were now searching for the try bonus point as the game entered the final 10 minutes. Bourton made another strong run into the Rams 22 as the game became frantic, but Rams were unable to break-out of their own half.
Chinnor won another scrum penalty but this time they lost their own line-out, probably for the first time in the match, and although Rams won a penalty for a high-tackle, they still were unable to get past the half-way line.
With time-up according to the scoreboard clock, more Chinnor pressure won turnover ball and Bourton ran deep into the Rams 22. However, with a Rams player on the ground looking seriously injured, the referee first halted play to allow treatment to the stricken player, and then opted to end the game. Hopefully, the injury was not as bad as it initially looked.
At the end of the match, Chinnor deservedly took the win to top the National League One table at the end of the year and to take the local bragging rights, but it was a titanic struggle. Whilst most people were expecting a high scoring encounter given the number of points both sides had scored so far in the season, ultimately it was the best defensive record of Chinnor that was decisive, restricting Rams to just 7 points.
In the matchday programme, Chinnor Director of Rugby Nick Easter had written “with both teams leading the attacking statistics it could make for a high scoring classic, but me being a defense coach I would much prefer a low-scoring classic”. He was probably a satisfied man after the match !
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