Chippenham 37-26 Longlevens ( att : 200 est ) - 2024/25 South West Regional 2 Severn

December 14, 2022

With a long weekend in Lacock it was an opportunity to make what is now becoming an annual visit to Chippenham RFC.

Chippenham started the day at the top of the table, with 9 wins from 10 games, with the only defeat coming at the hands of today’s opponents, when they went down 35-59 in early September. They had since won 8 matches in a row, scoring over 50 points on four occasions.

Last time out Chippenham won a top of the table clash 22-17 at second placed Trowbridge.

 

Longlevens RFC

Longlevens is a suburb of Gloucester. I had seen Longlevens’ football side play on one occasion when they lost a Hellenic League encounter 0-2 at Thame United in 2016/17.

My awareness of Longlevens RFC first came from reading the autobiography of prop Mike Burton shortly after it was published in 1982. Burton started his career at Longlevens before going on to play for Gloucester, England and The British Lions, becoming the first ever England player to be sent-off, in the third minute in the Battle of Brisbane in 1976. His book made the headlines as it exposed the sham-amateurism of the time by revealing he was being paid to wear a particular brand of boot, with payment being in cash inside the boot.

Longlevens are known as The Griffins and last season they finished second in Counties 1 Tribute Western North behind Cinderford II to win promotion to South West Regional 2, the highest ever level since the league structures were introduced.

Furthermore, Longlevens ended last season in some style, reaching the final of the Papa Johns Counties 1 final, where they beat Widnes 25-19 at Twickenham

Longlevens had a 6-2-2 record so far this season and were unbeaten at home, with only Drybrook leaving with any points after a 36-36 draw. Keynsham, Old Centralians, and as already mentioned Chippenham, had been vanquished.

Wins had been achieved at Witney, Weston-Super-Mare and two weeks ago they racked up a century of points in a 105-17 win at Swindon. They had drawn 34-34 at Stow-on-the-Wold but lost at Thornbury ( 31-42 ) and Gordano ( 21-36 ).

In 10 matches The Griffins had scored 431 points but conceded 304, and with Chippenham having scored 456 points in their 10 matches, a high scoring contest looked on the cards.

Centre Tom Barton had touched down 11 times, whilst full-back Matthew Smith had scored 10 tries. Fly-half Bradley Wilkins was the top points scorer with 74 points. However, none of these three players were named in their match-day squad for today.

 Matchday Information

According to AA route planner, the journey from Longlevens to Chippenham was 57 miles and should take just over an hour down the M5 and along the M4.

The weather at the 15.00 kick-off was sunny with blue skies, but with temperatures around 7 degrees.

Admission was free as were the programmes, and a large Pinot Grigio was £7.70. The guest beers today were Theakston’s Old Peculiar and Wadsworth’s Henry, but neither of these are to Fatbear’s liking, but after a few too many the night before he declined the opportunity to sample the Madri or the Atlantic Pale Ale.

The Chippenham starting XV contained 9 players described as home grown, with one more amongst the three substitutes. Their line-up in the programme and on Twitter listed the players as 1 to 15, but they started with 18, 19 and one player without a number. Presumably the numbered shirts didn’t fit them, but perhaps Chippenham could try just a little bit harder with their numbering ?

Longlevens were playing in a kit of red shirts with a white band, with red shorts and red and white socks. Chippenham were playing in their usual black and white hoops with red trimmings, with black shorts and black and white socks.

We were able to secure seats in the clubhouse that offered good views of the pitch with just a restricted view in one corner of the pitch.

Match Report

Chippenham kicked off and Longlevens gathered and immediately spread the ball amongst their backs with wing Mike Yorke sprinting up the touchline to half-way, but the inside pass was forward and knocked on, so Chippenham had the input to the scrum.

The home scrum-half Charlie Parsons was snagged by his opposite number Piers Fortey, but managed to get the ball away to his fly-half Jack Smith, who smartly kicked cross-field for number 18 ( who I was advised was Brad Doggett, listed as 12 in the programme ) to catch and run into the Longlevens half where he was illegally stopped. The penalty was kicked deep into the Longlevens 22, and the rolling maul from the line-out rumbled forward and over, with hooker Zac Dinning touching down. The attempted conversion from full-back Kalif Barnes was poorly struck so it was 5-0 with 5 minutes played.

Chippenham put the ball through the hands from the restart for Barnes to kick ahead, forcing Longlevens full-back Isaac Meredith to claim and run into touch to stop the danger. Chippenham made a mess of their line-out on the Longlevens 22 with a poor tap back. which prop Josh Stratton pounced upon and from the following ruck, Fortey chipped ahead with the ball bouncing kindly into touch close to the Chippenham 22 metre line.

From their line-out Chippenham’s number three ( Josh Lever ? ) made a blistering break, most unlike a prop, so perhaps wearing a wrong number, and his kick ahead was fumbled by Longleven’s winger Jake Fox, and centre Will Hendy ( wearing number 12 but listed as 13 in the programme ) picked up and dived over the line for the home side’s second try. Again, the attempted conversion went well wide, as the score was now 10-0 after 10 minutes.

Shortly after the restart, Chippenham scrum-half Parsons picked up at the base of ruck to burst clear and into the Longlevens 22, but Chippenham transgressed at the ruck, and Longlevens were able to take play back to the Chippenham 10 metre line.

Longlevens won their line-out and ex-Cinderford fly-half James Butler made a superb break and fed wing Fox, in support, to score. Butler added an excellent conversion from out wide to take the score to 10-7 after 14 minutes.

Chippenham produced a good shove at the first scrum of the match, and although Longlevens were able to get the ball away they conceded a penalty under pressure, which enabled the home side to kick back into the Longlevens 22.

The line-out was secured and although the rolling maul was halted, Smith fed Doggett to run through the visitors’ defense to score under the post. This time Barnes added the extras as Chippenham extended their lead to 17-7 after 17 minutes.

Fly-half Smith then produced a fine 50:20 kick to take Chippenham back into the Longlevens 22 but they lost their line-out, and Meredith ran down the touchline before being tackled into touch on half-way.

A Longlevens kick was knocked on close to the Chippenham 10 metre line and Longlevens kicked from the scrum into the home 22, but when Chippenham tried to run the ball they were pinged for not releasing in front of their posts, and Butler stepped up to add the easy three points to his side’s total. It was now 17-10 with 24 minutes played.

On the half-hour mark a promising Chippenham break was halted by the referee’s whistle for crossing, and Longlevens were back in the Chippenham 22. Their attack was pushed into touch, but the referee had been playing an advantage, and Butler was able to add another straightforward penalty to bring his side to 17-13 with 32 minutes on the clock.

Longlevens tried to run the ball from the restart but knocked on. Chippenham had a scrum just inside the visitors 22 but Fortey managed to steal possession at the scrum, but his side couldn’t break out of their 22 and were forced to kick. Chippenham in turn ran the ball back at Longlevens but infringed at the ruck, enabling Longlevens to clear up to the half-way line.

Longlevens were awarded a penalty from their line-out and Butler kicked deep into the Chippenham 22, but their line-out was not straight and the home side had the input to the scrum. However, the referee awarded a free kick to Longlevens from the scrum from which they took a quick tap, but Chippenham defended well and won a penalty.

Chippenham were able to kick into the Longlevens half and then chipped close to the Longlevens try-line, but Meredith kept the ball in play and launched a counterattack, and Butler made a great break to take play into the Chippenham half. Although lock Stephen Phillips knocked on, the referee penalized Chippenham, and Butler added his third penalty of the game from a central position mid-way inside the Chippenham half. The referee blew his whistle for half-time after the successful kick, with the score now 17-16.

Despite an impressive first half from the home side, their ill-discipline had enabled the visitors to head for the half-time oranges just one point adrift.

With the temperature dropping and the floodlights on, Fatbear decided to watch the second half from outside of the clubhouse.

The restart by Longlevens failed to go the required 10 metres, and Chippenham opted for a scrum on the half-way line. Smith made a good break from the scrum and then kicked ahead, but Longlevens were able to put the ball into touch. The home side had several waves of attacks but The Griffins’ defence was good until ultimately conceding a penalty. Chippenham opted for the points, and Barnes’ kick from in front of the posts was successful, taking the score to 20-16 after 45 minutes.

Chippenham were quickly back inside the Longlevens 22 with a 5 metre line-out at which they were penalized for being offside as their forwarded rumbled towards the try line.

Longlevens tried to play from inside their 22 but knocked on. Chippenham gathered and a pass enabled Doggett to run past three would be tacklers for a fantastic solo score. With the conversion sliding wide, it was now 25-16 with 50 minutes played.

The game wasn’t over though. Longlevens enjoyed a spell of pressure before Butler produced a fantastic break from close to the half-way line and brushed aside the flimsy challenge from Barnes to score in the corner. Although his conversion ended up short of the posts, the score had now moved to 25-21 after 53 minutes.

The restart was dropped by a Longlevens forward to give Chippenham a scrum in a promising position. Smith made another good break and passed wide to Barnes, whose attempted offload went forward.

The home pack produced another good shove at the scrum to win a penalty, which was kicked to 5 metres from the Longlevens try line. Tom Knight won the line-out but again as the rolling maul progressed towards the whitewash, they were penalized, and Longlevens were able to clear back to half-way.

The game then became end-to-end. Chippenham winger Danny Sugg ran across the field and released Smith, who kicked towards the Longlevens tryline, but Butler was back covering and rather than touching down in-goal, he skipped past two attackers to run back down the touchline, and when Longlevens moved the ball infield, they won a penalty midway inside the Chippenham half. Unfortunately for the visitors they knocked on at the line-out and Chippenham counterattacked with Sugg’s long pass releasing Barnes, the fullback’s kick ahead went out on the full.

A Chippenham mis-move, presumably from the training ground, saw Smith feed Parsons to make a break which was illegally halted, and the penalty took Chippenham back into the Longlevens 22. The Chippenham rolling maul again rumbled towards the tryline but was collapsed, and the referee awarded the penalty, which took play back to a 5 metre line-out.

This time Longlevens defended the rolling maul well, forcing Chippenham to give the ball to their backs, and a floated pass from Barnes enabled wing Harrison Seymour to have an easy run to the corner. Smith took over the kicking duties, but his difficult kick from the touchline sailed wide. The score was now 30-21 with 67 minutes played.

Longlevens wing Fox set off on a mazy run into the Chippenham 22. After reworking possession, Yorke headed for the line and although appearing to have possibly dropped the ball in the act of diving for the line, the referee awarded the try. The conversion from Butler hit the post and bounced the wrong side of the uprights, so it was 30-26 with around 8 minutes remaining and the game was still in the balance.

Longlevens tried to run the restart from inside their 22 but Chippenham’s tackling was good and they failed to make a breakthrough, and eventually conceded a penalty. Chippenham opted to go to the 5 metre line rather than take the points, but after winning the line-out, the ball slipped out of their rolling maul and Longlevens were able to clear to half-way from the resulting scrum.

Another penalty allowed Chippenham to return deep inside the Longlevens 22, and a super dummy from Smith gave him the gap to race over the line, and after converting his own try, Chippenham had the game in the bag with a 37-26 lead with just a couple of minutes left to play.

Longlevens still had the losing bonus point and the four try bonus point to play for, but a good move saw a knock on just over the half-way line to end the danger. A scrum penalty gave the visitors the opportunity to kick inside the Chippenham 22 but they were not able to convert the territory into points, and Chippenham safety saw out the final moments of a very entertaining encounter.

The result kept Chippenham at the top of the table, whilst Longlevens stayed in fourth place after taking nothing from the game despite their excellent performance.