October 30, 2026
Tonight saw the return of the popular Friday Night Lights at Chinnor for the first this season with the visit of Nottingham, who were making their third visit to Kingsey Road. The previous two meetings had also been under lights on a Friday night, and were covered in these diaries.
The Archers play all of their home matches on either a Friday night, or occasionally on a Sunday afternoon, to avoid clashes with the two football clubs in Nottingham, so they are no strangers to playing on Fridays !
These diaries reported on Chinnor’s last home game, when they were victorious 40-24 over Richmond. Since then, they had played once more and were leading at Cornish Pirates with less than 20 minutes remaining, but Pirates came back to score four more tries to earn a bonus point 48-24 victory, three of which were in the last 10 minutes after a yellow card to Chinnor. The defeat left Chinnor in 6th place in the Champ table.
Previous Meetings
Honours were currently even after the four previous matches between these two sides, with both having one home and one away win. In December 2024, The Archers edged to a 19-15 success in front of a home crowd of 1,025, but Chinnor gained revenge in the return with a 41-22 victory watched by 1,815 spectators.
Last season the match at Chinnor was played in a torrential downpour and 40 mph winds, reducing the game to an arm wrestle, with running rugby next to impossible. Nottingham managed to score the only try of the game, from a 5-metre line-out, to go home with an 11-6 win. The return match was played on a Sunday in a mud-bath, but this time Chinnor’s pack had the edge to win a close game 26-19.
Nottingham This Season
Last season Nottingham ended in 9th place in the Champ table, 10 points behind 5th placed Chinnor. Number 8 James Cherry scored 21 tries, whilst fly-half Gwyn Parks accumulated 156 points.
Their start to the new season had been unimpressive, with just one win from five games. The Archers began with a 38-31 home victory over newly promoted Blackheath but subsequently lost 28-33 at Ampthill, 26-64 at home to Coventry, 24-49 at Worcester Warriors and 12-29 at home to Bedford. Consequently, Nottingham came into today’s game in 12th place.
To be fair to Nottingham though, the last three losses had been against sides that finished in the top four last season, but a trip Chinnor would hardly be much easier as it meant a fourth game in a row against one of last season’s top 5 sides.
Nottingham Squad
The Archers lost a number of key players in the summer, with the biggest loss arguably being James Cherry, many people’s best number 8 in the Champ last season, to Worcester Warriors. Hooker Jack Dickenson also decamped to Worcester.
Centre Kegan Christian-Goss and lock Michael Etete joined Blackheath, prop Oscar Stott went to Ealing Trailfinders and had then played three games on loan at Chinnor, winger Alex Garratt signed for Coventry and hooker Ben Brownlie retired.
New hires included centre Morgan Adderley-Jones from Coventry, winger Matt Ward from Cornish Pirates and prop Oli Crane from Leicester Lions. Lock Will Ramply had joined from Nottingham Trent University and prop Oran Murphy had signed from Loughborough Students.
Hooker Foster De Witt and centre Spencer Jones have both been called up by Canada for their Nations League matches in November but would be missing tonight.
Captain and wing David Williams had scored over 100 tries for Nottingham and invariably was the danger-man for The Archers. However, he would also be absent for this game.
Fly-half Shane O’Leary was the top points scorer on 32 points whilst Ward had touched down four times, and Williams had three tries to his name.
Matchday Information
According to AA route planner, the journey from Nottingham to Thame is 112 miles and should normally take two hours 10 minutes.
Online tickets for the game were £20 for adults, £18 for concessions, £10 for full-time students, whilst under 16s were allowed in free. Tickets at the gate were £22 for adults. The usual food vendors for burgers, pizzas, crepes, Greek food and coffee were in place, and a pint of XT4 was £5.17 with the member’s 10% discount.
The weather at the 19.45 kick-off time was dry and 9 degrees, and the infamous Chinnor breeze was absent !
Nottingham made four changes to the side defeated by Bedford Blues, with ex-Leicester Tigers and former Samoa international prop Aniesko Sio, ex-Leicester Lions hooker Arthur Allen, Fijian back-forward Kody Vereti and ex-Ampthill full-back Evan Mitchell coming into the side. Sam Green, Max Pearce and Murphy dropped to the bench and as mentioned above, Williams was missing altogether.
Chinnor made four changes to the side that lost at Cornish Pirates, with the return of full-back Richie Simpson, prop Kai Owen, hooker Chris Moore and number 8 Scott Hall. Owen and Hall would be starting against their former club, whilst Stott was on the bench.
Nottingham were in a change kit of light blue shirts with black shorts and socks, but the black numbers on the back of the shirts were hard to read from a distance, so the Nottingham players would not always get identified for their good play ! Chinnor were in their usual home kit of black and white hoops.
Match Report
Nottingham kicked off attacking the Showground end and the opening play eventually saw Chinnor fly-half Liam Richman clear from inside his 22 to give the visitors a line-out on the Chinnor 10 metre line.
Chinnor lock Jamie Campbell was able to get a tap to the Nottingham throw and Chinnor gathered the loose ball. Scrum-half Callum Pascoe kicked high but one of the Archers back three made an excellent catch, but the clearing kick went straight into touch to give Chinnor a line-out just outside the Nottingham 22.
Hall won the line-out for Chinnor and the home side launched several attacks for the try-line but the defending was good and Chinnor were penalised for crossing. However, the referee had been playing an advantage, and the penalty was kicked to 5 metres.
Chinnor won their line-out but the rolling maul was halted short of the line, but another penalty was awarded. History was repeated with a 5-metre line-out and the Chinnor rolling maul being well defended, but this time Nottingham forced a penalty.
The Archers cleared to their 22-metre line where captain Jay Ecclesfield secured their line-out ball. A short period of kick-tennis followed until Chinnor knocked on to give Nottingham a scrum on the Chinnor 10 metre line.
O’Leary played a cute chip over the advancing Chinnor defenders but the ball bounced unkindly for Adderley-Jones, and Chinnor regained possession. Flanker Harry Dugmore set off on a strong run towards the Nottingham 22 but Mitchell made a tremendous tackle when it looked like Chinnor wing Jack Metcalf seemed certain to score.
Pascoe made a break from the base of a ruck and fed Wharton, who was denied by another good tackle but Chinnor had forced another penalty which took them back to 5 metres from the try-line. Campbell won the line-out, Pascoe made a snipping run, but several drives from the home side were halted. However, the pressure told and Dugmore dived over the whitewash from close range. From close to the posts, Richman added the extras to give Chinnor a 7-0 line after 13 minutes.
Nottingham were pinged at the restart enabling Chinnor to take play to the Nottingham 10 metre line. Chinnor won their line-out but failed to make any in-road against the solid Nottingham defence and infringed, and The Archers kicked the penalty to just inside the Chinnor 22.
Chinnor nearly stole the line-out but the tap back was poor and a big Nottingham forward, possibly Ecclesfield, gathered and stormed towards the try-line only to be brought down just short. With the Chinnor defence scrambling, O’Leary spread play to Addersley-Jones, whose floated pass sucked in the Chinnor last man to enable Ward to canter over in the corner. The attempted conversion from O’Leary slid just past the far post, so it was now 7-5 with 17 minutes played.
Shortly after the restart Chinnor were awarded a penalty, possibly for taking a player out in the air, which took the home side to the visitors 22 metre line. Campbell won the line-out and the Chinnor rolling maul progressed 10 yards before Nottingham were penalised for being off their feet at the ruck. The subsequent penalty gave Chinnor a 5-metre line-out and the rolling maul was illegally stopped, resulting in another penalty and a yellow card for Ecclesfield.
Campbell predictably won the line-out and this time the rolling maul rumbled over with hooker Chris Moore being credited with the score. Richman struck a fine conversation, extending Chinnor’s lead to 14-5 with 24 minutes on the clock.
From a Chinnor scrum, Metcalf kicked long forcing Nottingham to touch down in their in-goal area for a goal-line drop-out. The kick gave Chinnor possession but again several attacks were denied, forcing a grubber kick to be played, bouncing into touch close to the corner flag.
Nottingham won their line-out and were awarded a penalty for offside as Chinnor tried to charge down scrum-half Will Yandell’s clearing kick.
The Archers kicked to their 10-metre line but their line-out throw was judged to be not straight, to give Chinnor the scrum, from which they won a penalty and were again camped inside the Nottingham 22.
In a case of deja-vu, Campbell won the line-out, the rolling maul was illegally stopped and the penalty advantage came to nothing. However, Chinnor clumsily knocked the next 5-metre line-out forward to give Nottingham a scrum 5 metres from their line-out. Despite being under heavy pressure, O’Leary was able to find touch.
Hall won the line-out for Chinnor but the Chinnor attack was forced into touch close to the corner flag. Nottingham again defended their lines well and cleared from the line-out.
Chinnor butchered their line-out but Yandell’s clearing kick was partially charged down. Metcalf was able to jink past two would be tacklers in midfield but again the cover defence was good, leaving Richman little option to kick, and he sent a splendid kick bouncing into touch deep inside the Nottingham 22. Unfortunately for the home side, the referee had seen enough for the first period and blew for half-time.
Chinnor were pinged during an aerial challenge at the restart and Nottingham kicked to half-way. Campbell tapped back the Nottingham line-out, but after some scrappy play Nottingham knocked on to give Chinnor a scrum. Centre James Bourton made a break but after Chinnor coughed up possession, the visitors launched a high kick and won a penalty as Chinnor wing Ben Currie collided with Nottingham winger Harry Simpson.
Nottingham were now on the Chinnor 22, and Vereti did well to win the line-out ahead of Campbell, but after losing possession another session of kick-tennis ensued. Finally, the ball was kicked out to give Chinnor a line-out which Nottingham unexpectedly stole and gathered, and kicked high. Chinnor returned the favour and in a case of what might have been some revenge, Simpson pushed over Currie but the referee waved for play to continue, until Nottingham knocked on to give Chinnor a scrum on their 10-metre line.
Hall picked up at the base of the scrum and made 10 yards but again the Nottingham cover defence was impressive and forced a penalty, and some backchat gave them a further 10 yards. The penalty was kicked to midway inside the Chinnor half and after a poor tap was retrieved by Yarnell, O’Leary chipped towards the corner flag, but Richie Simpson was covering and was able to kick to mid-way inside the Chinnor half.
Another poor line-out tap saw Yarnell scragged by two Chinnor forwards, but Nottingham were again able to keep possession and a long kick from Adderley-Jones forced Chinnor to touch down in their in-goal area as Simpson threatened to get to the ball.
Chinnor’s drop-out was kicked long but O’Leary was flattened by a tremendous tackle as he attempted to spread the ball, which ended up bouncing into touch near the half-way line.
Play was now becoming attritional with neither side able to make much impression. A long Nottingham kick went into the Chinnor in-goal zone, which was cleared for a line-out just outside the Chinnor 22. Nottingham won their line-out and looked to move the ball wide. A long-pass was well caught by Levi Roper, who did well to stay on his feet and then scampered over the line close to the posts. Surprisingly, O’Leary put the straightforward conversion wide of the uprights so the score became 14-10 with 54 minutes played.
Nottingham had now ventured into the Chinnor 22 twice but had scored on both occasions to demonstrate their clinical efficiency close to the red zone.
More tight play continued until Nottingham kicked straight into touch to give Chinnor a line-out midway inside the Nottingham half, only for Chinnor to knock-on at the line-out to give a scrum to Nottingham. Chinnor then won a scrum penalty to have a line-out inside the Nottingham 22, only to be penalised for the throw not being straight.
Neither side could get a grip on what was now a very even match. Both sides were playing safe by launching kicks high into the air, until Nottingham’s Simpson was bundled into touch. Chinnor won the line-out and Nottingham conceded a penalty. The kick-tennis continued until Nottingham tried to move the ball from right to left then back again without being able to make any yardage and ultimately knocked on. From the scrum just inside the Chinnor half, the referee awarded a free-kick to the home side, which was sent into orbit and was allowed to bounce inside the Nottingham 22. The Archers were able to eventually gather but conceded a penalty at a ruck.
Chinnor kicked to 10 metres, and after Campbell won the line-out, the Chinnor pack produced a tremendous rolling maul to crash over the line, with substitute Alun Walker getting the credit for the score. Richman added a super conversion to take the score to 21-10 with 76 minutes on the scoreboard clock.
Nottingham were now playing to get within losing bonus point range and sent a kick bouncing into touch close to Chinnor’s corner flag. Chinnor strangely opted to throw low to the front of the line-out, which didn’t seem to be expected and Nottingham took possession. The Archers pressed for the try-line and had a penalty advantage but the chip to the corner was well caught by Currie.
The subsequent penalty was kicked to 5 metres and the rolling maul forced it was over the line with substitute Lawrence Adedirian being announced as the scorer. This time O’Leary was successful from the tee, bringing the score to 21-17 with 80 minutes on the clock.
Play continued and Nottingham number 8 Jacob Wright dropped the restart inside his 22. A flare up followed, and a Nottingham player clearly thumped Dugmore in the face right in front of the linesman. Fatbear didn’t see the number of the culprit but the linesman bottled the decision by not getting involved.
Chinnor won a penalty at the subsequent scrum and kicked to 5 metres. The Chinnor rolling maul was forced into touch by more good defensive work by Nottingham, but the referee blew the whistle for full-time.
After a number of basketball scores in the Premiership and to a lesser degree in the Champ, it was quite refreshing to see a game where defences were highly effective,
even if it forced the attacking team into making errors. Fatbear would much rather watch a 21-17 game rather than 60-45 !
For the efforts tonight, Nottingham deserved their losing bonus point, whilst Chinnor would take the win and look to move on to next week’s trip to Hartpury.
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