Chinnor 53-36 Caldy ( att : 400 est ) – 2026/27 Pre-Season Friendly

September 12, 2026

After Chinnor had thumped a youthful Leicester Tigers side 55-0 in their first pre-season friendly last Friday night in front of a record crowd of 3,000, today represented a different challenge against a gnarled and competitive fellow Champ side in Caldy.

The two sides are scheduled to play each other at Caldy in the third round of The Champ in early October, and a friendly between the two was perhaps a little unexpected after a bruising pre-season encounter prior to last season when a narrow victory for Chinnor at Paton Field had left both sides short of several injured players for the start of the new season !

However, there is a warm relationship between the two clubs, with both having risen through the pyramid whilst still retaining a strong community ethos.

Chinnor Update

During the week Chinnor announced that prop Andrew Darlington had rejoined the club. A former Dutch international, Darlington had made 30 appearances for the villagers between 2015 to 2017, and had subsequently played for Maidenhead, Caldy and Macclesfield.

Previous Meetings

The two sides last met in March this year, when Chinnor were victorious with a 48-36 home win in a fabulously entertaining end-to-end game.

Matches between Chinnor and Caldy have historically been close encounters. The first meetings between these two sides came in 2018/19 in National League One with Caldy snatching a 27-24 win at Chinnor early in the season, whilst Chinnor gained revenge at Paton Field with a 20-17 victory.

The two teams next faced each other in 2021/22 when Caldy kicked a last-minute penalty to grab a 27-27 home draw, then these diaries covered the return fixture in February 2022 when Caldy produced a masterclass on how to play into a gale force wind and generally strangled the life out of Chinnor with up-the-jumper rugby on their way to a 23-12 victory and onto winning promotion to the Championship.          

Chinnor’s promotion to the Championship saw rivalries resumed, and in what was Chinnor’s first ever home game in the second tier, these diaries reported on a 31-17 home win. Caldy had been pressing for an equalizing score, but Chinnor broke to score with the last move of the game to give the scoreline a rather flattering look. In the return meeting, a converted try five minutes from the end gave Chinnor a 24-23 win.

Chinnor maintained their unbeaten record at Paton Field with a 38-26 victory last November, where Chinnor kicked a penalty 15 minutes from the end to deprive Caldy of a losing bonus point.

Caldy Update

Today was Caldy’s third pre-season friendly. Their first warm-up ended in a 33-40 defeat at National League One Sale FC in which 38 players had taken to the field for The Ravers, but this was followed by a 51-26 home win over Super BUCS Durham University. A mostly 2^nd XI side had also played at and beaten Birkenhead Park 40-31.

Caldy had announced an extensive list of 1^st and 2^nd team players who were retained from last season. The only notable departure was fly-half Kieran Wilkinson moving to Doncaster Knights, whilst Lewis Barker had become first team coach at Chester, and scrum-half Tom Akehurst had returned to Wirral.

New signings included centre Harry Oliver, who scored 291 points last season in National 2 North for Macclesfield. Also joining from Macclesfield was second row Harry Harding.

Other signings by Caldy were ex-Leicester Lions and Broadstreet back row forward Cameron de Beer, England North Under 20’s prop Charlie Ford, back row forward Oliver Barker from Nottingham University, and versatile back Rhys James from Wirral.

Matchday Information

According to AA Route Planner, the journey from Caldy to Thame is 190 miles and should normally takes about three hours fifteen minutes.

The weather at the 15.00 kick-off was dry and 21 degrees and the infamous Chinnor breeze was particularly strong.

Tickets for the game were £10 for adults, £5 for 10 to 17-year-olds, whilst under 10s were allowed in free.

Chinnor named a squad of 32 players for the match with the starting XV featuring only three players who started against Leicester Tigers, flanker Will Cave, centre Tom Watson and winger Jack Metcalf. Named amongst the substitutes were two players who joined Ealing Trailfinders in the summer, ex-Nottingham prop Oscar Stott and French lock Louis Finch who was at Mont-de-Marsan last year. Also on the bench was scrum-half Zack Lewis, who was playing for Hawick last season.

Their squad include wing Kieran Goss and back-row forward George Stokes, who were missing from Leicester game, leaving only Freddie Owsley and Willie Ryan from last season’s regulars whose current whereabouts was to be confirmed.

Caldy named a squad of 30 for the fixture, with Oliver, de Beer and Harding starting.

Caldy were playing in a change kit of gold shirts with black shorts and socks whilst Chinnor were in their usual black and white hoops, with black shorts and socks.

The match was arranged for three periods of 30 minutes each.

Matchday Report

Chinnor kicked off towards the ring-road end and into the wind and the start was error-strewn, with Chinnor full-back Nick Smith dropping a high ball, scrum-half Luke Carter having a clearing kick charged down, whilst a Caldy player also spilt a high-kick.

Chinnor were awarded a penalty at the first scrum and Harry Gilson-Fox won the subsequent line-out, but when Chinnor spread the ball Scott Hall dropped it and Caldy forced a penalty. However, the early errors continued as Caldy knocked the ball forward at the line-out to hand possession to Chinnor, and from the counter-attack fly-half Nathan Chamberlain sent a low kick into touch inside the Caldy 22.

This time Caldy won their line-out and full-back Charlie Hyde sent a fabulous wind assisted kick into touch just outside the Chinnor 22. The home side’s throw went too long and Caldy hooker Matt Gallagher pounced onto the bouncing ball. The Ravers sent the ball through several pair of hands and created an overlap for winger Will Robinson to go over in the corner. Ben Parkin’s attempted conversion slid wide of the uprights but it was 0-5 after 8 minutes.

Shortly after the restart a Chinnor penalty was kicked into the Caldy 22 and the rolling maul from the line-out rumbled slowly forward until being stopped. It looked like the ball was dropped but the referee allowed play to continue, and then awarded another penalty to Chinnor, which was kicked to 5 metres. Gilson-Fox again won the line-out and this time the Chinnor rolling maul drove over the whitewash and flanker Harry Dugmore was announced as the scorer. The touchline conversion was missed so the score moved to 5-5 after 14 minutes.

A penalty for the visitors took play to inside the Chinnor 22. Martin Gerrard rose the highest to claim the line-out and with a penalty advantage Caldy launched several drives for the try-line but these were repelled. The referee took play back for the original infringement and showed a yellow card to Chinnor’s Cave.

Caldy’s rolling maul from 5 metres is legendary and after de Beer secured possession the inevitable try for Gallagher followed. Parkin added the extras to give Caldy a 12-5 lead with 19 minutes played.

However, the lead didn’t last for last as whilst Chinnor’s Smith and Caldy’s Connor Wilkinson were having a disagreement, Chinnor attacked and eventually prop Kai Owen barged over from close range to score. Chamberlain slotted over an easy conversion to bring the score to 12-12 after 21 minutes.

A case of Déjà vu followed as Caldy kicked a penalty to 5 metres and as the rolling maul set off towards the line, a huge gap appeared in the Chinnor defence, and Gallagher had an easy stroll to score, and was able to go round to under the posts. Parkin wasn’t going to miss from in front of the sticks so Caldy were back in front 19-12 with 25 minutes on the clock.

Almost straight from the restart Wilkinson made a great break and chipped ahead for Robinson to gather but as he was about to touch down Smith made a great tackle to get under the Caldy winger to hold him up. However, the referee was in a hurry to award the try and signalled the score far too early much to the bemusement to the spectators around Fatbear. Robinson may have put the ball down later, but only after the referee had already awarded the try. The conversion drifted wide so the score was now 12-24 after 27 minutes played

Caldy nearly scored again when Rhys Tudor made a scything run and then kicked ahead but Hyde was just unable to get to the ball before it went dead. Chinnor attacked from the scrum just outside their 22 and won a penalty when de Beer was off his feet at a ruck, and Chinnor centre Tom Watson surprised everyone by running from the half-way line after a quick tap to score in the corner. Chamberlain excellently converted from close to the touchline to close the gap to 19-24 at the end of the first third.

The first action of the second period saw Parkin make a good break but his attempt to find his winger was intercepted by Smith

Despite playing into the stiff wind, Caldy dominated the early stages of the second period and were camped inside the Chinnor 22.  A 5-metre line-out was thrown too long but Caldy were able to keep possession, and some basketball passes in midfield enabled number 17 Monty Weatherby to score, and Parkin added the conversion. It was now 19-31 after 39 minutes.

It was starting to look grim for Chinnor and a promising attack came to a halt after a knock-on. However, the home side won a penalty at the resulting scrum, which was kicked to 10 metres. Chinnor won their ball but the rolling maul was halted. The ball found its way to centre George Wacokecoke, who side-stepped his way over to score. Chamberlain was again successful from the tee, and Chinnor were back in touching distance at 26-31 after 43 minutes.

The “you score, we score” nature of the match continued as Caldy notched their 6^th try of the game. Their scrum was going backward but the referee determined this was due to something illegal by the Chinnor pack and awarded a penalty to the Ravers, which was kicked to 10 metres from the Chinnor line. Surprisingly, the Caldy rolling maul was halted, but when the scrum-half looked up, he saw his side had a three man overlap, and the ball was spread to allow Dylan Carroll to canter over to score. Parkin’s attempted conversion drifted wide so it was 26-36 with 49 minutes played.

Chinnor again looked to be struggling and a grubber kick went dead to give Caldy a scrum just outside their 22, from which they ran and the scrum-half then sent a kick bouncing into touch midway inside the Chinnor half.

Jamie Campbell won the line-out for Chinnor from which Morgan Passman made a break until being illegally stopped. The penalty was kicked to 5 metres and when Campbell again won the line-out, the Chinnor attack was stopped just short of the tryline, but a long, floated pass from the base of the ruck gave Watson an easy task for his second try of the day. With the conversion missed the score had moved to 31-36 after 56 minutes.

A scrappy period followed, but after Campbell won a line-out, a good move saw Ben Currie, one of three Chinnor players on the field wearing the number 15 at the time, cross in the corner. Chamberlain failed with the conversion, so the second period ended at 36-36.

Chinnor began the third period well with Wacokecoke making two impressive runs but failing to find a team-mate with his passes. A try was coming and Smith made a break, then kicked a grubber for James Bourton to run onto and score. Another difficult conversion was missed, but Chinnor now led for the first time in the match, 41-36 with 65 minutes played.

Chinnor followed this up with a super move which saw Currie again score out wide, and again the conversion sailed the wrong side of the posts. 46-36 after 72 minutes.

Three minutes later there was some confusion as a run from Goss down the touchline was stopped by the referee’s whistle for an earlier infringement by Chinnor, and for a few moments it looked like the referee had ended the match early. However, to ensure both sides faced the strong wind for the same amount of time, the two teams changed ends !

Caldy started the second half of the third period strongly but threw too long from a 5-metre line-out and although Chinnor gathered the loose ball they were pinged at the ruck. Caldy took a quick tap but the intended grubber kick hit Metcalf, who hadn’t been able to retreat 10 metres, and the Chinnor winger was shown a yellow card.

Despite being a man down, Chinnor ended the game the strongest. Replacement scrum-half Lewis made a high clearing kick which was dropped on the half-way line and then Caldy conceded a penalty when Chinnor gathered the loose ball. Consecutive penalties took Chinnor into the Caldy 22 and after the line-out was won, the ball went through several pair of hands before Carter was able to scamper through a gap in the Caldy defence and score under the posts. Bourton added the extras with the score moving to 53-36 with four minutes remaining.

The final minutes were uneventful and the final whistle brought an end to an enjoyable run-out for both clubs with 15 tries scored in the match. The real business starts next week-end as Chinnor host Ealing Trailfinders and Caldy are at home to Hartpury. 

 

Chinnor 55-0 Leicester Tigers ( att : 3,000 ) – 2026/27 Pre-Season Friendly

September 4, 2026

Tonight was a historic night for Chinnor as Leicester Tigers became the first ever side from the Premiership to visit or even play against Chinnor. Last season’s 5^th place in the Champ made Chinnor the 15^th best side in England but even a friendly again Leicester, who finished 4^th in the regular Premiership table before losing a play-off semi-final at Northampton, would normally be a tough ask.

Whilst all of Leicester’s current internationals would be on enforced rest due to their participation in the summer’s Nations Championship matches, the RFU had unexpectedly scheduled the start of the Prem Cup much earlier than expected, resulting in Leicester also having a Prem Cup match at Harlequins tomorrow, so it was uncertain how strong a side would take to the field for the Tigers tonight, or if there would be any past or future internationals to be added to the list of players who had graced the Chinnor pitch and then went on to play international rugby. Members of this club currently included Ellis Genge, Eliot Millar-Mills, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Joe Marlar, Ross Moriarty, Ben Vellacott, Billy Burns, George Furbank, Max Malins and Matt Gallagher !

Leicester Tigers

Leicester are the most successful side in English club rugby history, and are one of only three sides to have played every season in the top division since leagues were introduced in 1987/88, the other two being Bath and Gloucester. In that time Tigers had won the title on 11 occasions and finished runners-up on another 8 occasions.

In addition, the European Heineken Cup was won in consecutive seasons, beating Stade Francais 34-30 in 2001 and Munster 15-9 in 2002, whilst Leicester were runners-up in 1997, 2007 and 2009.

Between 1979 and 1997, Leicester won the RFU Knockout Cup ( John Player & Pilkington Cups ) 5 times, and were runners-up 5 times between 1978 and 1996.

Other titles included winning the Anglo-Welsh Cup three times ( 2007, 2012 and 2017 ), and last season the Prem Cup was won for the first time, thrashing Exeter Chiefs 66-14 in the final.

Naturally Leicester had provided an impressive list of players for the British Lions, including Martin Johnson, Neil Back, Peter Wheeler, Clive Woodward, Rory Underwood, Dean Richards, Austin Healey, Graham Rowntree, Dan Cole, Martin Corry, Dusty Hare, Paul Dodge, Ollie Chessum, Ben Youngs, Manu Tuilagi and current club coach Geoff Parling.

Notable England internationals numbered Les Cusworth, Will Greenwood, Tony Underwood, Nick Youngs, Richard Cockerill, Lewis Moody, Ben Kay, George Ford, Ellis Genge, Tom Youngs, Freddie Steward, Dorian West and Jack van Poortvliet.

Wikipedia showed that 181 players had represented their country whilst a Leicester player, spread as far and wide as Argentina, Italy, South Africa, Australia, France, Fiji, USA, Samoa, Tonga, Canada Georgia and even Sweden !

Home is the 25,849 capacity Welford Road, the largest club rugby club ground in England, except for when sides play showcase games at stadiums such as Twickenham or Cardiff, or football stadiums eg Tottenham, Aston Villa, Newcastle etc.

Watching Leicester Tigers

Fatbear has seen Leicester play on one previous occasion, in December 1996 when they travelled to The Stoop to play Harlequins in a league game. Quins were third in the table, but league leaders Leicester won 34-18. This was before the Tigers suffix had been added to their name but the home side were officially NEC Harlequins at the time !

The internationals in the Leicester side that day were Rory Underwood, who scored two tries, Martin Johnson, Neil Back, Graham Rowntree and Irish fly-half Niall Malone. Dean Richards was listed in the programme as being in the side but was replaced before kick-off. Also in the side were Austin Healey, Will Greenwood, Richard Cockerill and Darren Garforth who would go on to become full internationals.

The Harlequins line-up included England Internationals Will Carling & Jason Leonard, Irish hooker Keith Wood, French forwards Laurent Benezech and Laurent Cabannes and Welsh lock Gareth Llewellyn. Rugby League International Gary Connolly was in the centre whilst another Rugby League cross-over, scrum-half Robbie Paul was amongst the substitutes.

Back in those days, Leicester’s players wore letters rather than numbers on the back of their shirts, with A being the loose-head prop, through to O being the full-back. Interestingly, the Tigers were wearing letters tonight but they were not easy to read !

 

Chinnor Update

So far Chinnor had announced the retention of 22 players from last season including 6 of the front-row and lock Jamie Campbell, who ruled the line-outs last season. There was no news so far on Kieran Goss, Willie Ryan, Freddie Owsley, George Stokes and Cameron Rafferty, but the only departures in the public domain were three fringe/reserve players joining London Scottish.

New signings included fly-half/full-back Richie Simpson from Ealing Trailfinders, who had impressed in his one game on loan at Chinnor last season. Ex-Coventry Australian fly-half Liam Richman had signed after a year playing in Italy, full-back Jack Metcalf was playing in France for Rouen last season having previously played for Sale, Ealing, Doncaster and Newcastle, whilst veteran Samoan prop James Johnston ( 16 caps ) had joined from Ampthill.

Highly-rated lock forward Harry Gilson-Fox had moved from Rotherham, centre George Wacokecoke ended the season at Camborne after having previously been with Doncaster, full-back Ben Currie joined from Cambridge, and South Africa back-row forward Josh Du Toit had played for False Bay.

Off the field, another a covered terrace stand had been installed on one half of the far side of the ground to provide additional protection should it start raining.

Chinnor and Leicester Connections

The current Leicester squad actually includes two ex-Chinnor players. Welsh winger Ryan Crowley made 13 appearances in between RAF commitments before signing for Leicester last autumn where he made 7 appearances in the Prem Cup, scoring two tries.

Hooker Theo Theobald-Thomas played 5 games for Chinnor on loan from Gloucester in 2022/23 after being made redundant following the demise of Worcester Warriors. He then made a further 8 appearances for Chinnor on loan from Leicester in the 2023/24 season. To-date, Theobald Thomas had made 30 appearances for the Tigers, including 16 last season.

Winger Tom Varndell started in the minis and juniors at Chinnor before moving on to make his name at Leicester, Wasps and Bristol and winning 4 England caps.

Lock/back-row forward Scott Hall began his career at Chinnor, making one appearance in 2016 before going to Nottingham University. Whilst playing for Nottingham, Hall made two loan appearances for Leicester as cover for Prem Cup matches, and returned to Chinnor in 2024.

Back-row forward Fred Tuilagi made 8 appearances for Leicester in Premiership Cup matches, played 26 matches for Chinnor in 2021/22, and now plays for Bedford Blues.

In recent years, three Tigers had enjoyed loan spells at Chinnor. Flanker Monty Loggenberg made two substitute appearances for Chinnor last season on loan from Leicester but has now joined French Pro D2 side Beziers.

Prop Tim Hoyt made 6 appearances on loan from Leicester in 2024/25 before moving on to Worcester Warriors and becoming a full international for Fiji. In the summer, Hoyt joined French Top 14 side Lyon.

Winger Joe Browning played 7 times for Chinnor in two loan spells between 2023 to 2024, scoring 7 scintillating tries during his time at the club.

Kingsey Road would not have been a new experience for a handful of the Tigers squad though. Locks Finn Carduff, Osian Thomas and Tom Manz plus props Archie van der Flier and Ale Loman played here whilst loaned out to Nottingham in 2025 and suffered a 12-41 defeat, whilst scrum-half Tom Whiteley played for Bishop’s Stortford back in 2015 !

Four Leicester Academy players were in the England Under 18s side that were battered by the French Under 18s at Chinnor in March, namely prop Kwame Bekoe, lock Fin Charles, and back-row forwards Seva Batikora and Henry Johnson.

Matchday Information

According to AA route planner, the journey from Leicester to Thame is 89 miles and should normally take one hour 40 minutes.

The weather at the 19.45 kick-off was dry and 17 degrees and the infamous Chinnor breeze was absent.

Tickets for the game were £20 for adults, £18 for concessions, £10 for full-time students, £5 for 10-16-year olds, whilst under 10s were allowed in free.  All tickets were sold a day before the match.

Disappointingly, the Leicester side this evening consisted of Senior and Junior Academy players, and a few others not even listed on their website. Their captain was flanker Dylan Chessum, presumably the younger brother of Lewis and Ollie, and the Under 18 internationals Charles and Bekoe were paired as the locks, and prop Batikora was amongst the substitutes. Cameron Rafferty was also named on the bench, presumably the same player who made 29 appearances for Chinnor over the past two seasons ?

Chinnor named 13 substitutes so a lot of second half changes would be expected, but there were starts for Johnston, Du Toit, Richman, Metcalf and Simpson, and powerful centre Morgan Passman was surprisingly starting at Number 8.

Leicester were playing in their traditional green, white and red hooped shirts, with white shorts and black socks. Chinnor were in their usual black and white hoops, with black shorts and socks.

Match Report

Fear that this was going to be mis-match were quickly realised as Chinnor wing Grant Hughes crossed three times in the opening 15 minutes as Chinnor took a 17-0 lead.

Chinnor were simply too big, too strong, too fast and too good, and the opening try was a sign of things to come as the Tigers scrum was pushed off their ball, and after a couple of drives were halted a long pass from Metcalf enabled Hughes to canter over in the corner. 5-0 after 3 minutes.

The second try came from a failure to intercept a risky long pass to winger Metcalf, who raced down the touchline but was tackled short of the try-line. Chinnor recycled possession, put the ball through a number of hands with Hughes having to do a lot more work this time, but barged over. Again, a difficult conversion was missed so it was 10-0 with 8 minutes played.

Tigers had a brief spell of possession but were making little impression on the home defence but were eventually able to force a penalty, which was kicked into the Chinnor 22. Although Tigers won their line-out, Chinnor were able to win turnover ball, and Metcalf made a break and then kicked to the Leicester 22, but a covering defender cleared to touch. Tigers actually stole the Chinnor line-out but the Chinnor pack won a turnover, enabling scrum-half Callum Pascoe to make a break from the ruck and after being tackled, the ball went through a number of hands to give Hughes an overlap score in the corner. This time Richman was successful from the tee, taking the score to 17-0 with 16 minutes on the clock.

There was another brief spell of play inside the Chinnor 22 when the home side were caught offside from the clearing kick after the restart, and the line-out was thrown long which Leicester were able to gather but the drive from prop Ben Beere was halted and Chinnor forced a penalty.

Conor Brockschmidt won the subsequent line-out for Chinnor and Passman made a trademark break, running half the length of the field with defenders bouncing off him before being illegally stopped. The penalty was kicked to 5 metres, and Campbell won the line-out leading to the pack rumbling over the tryline. Passman was credited with the try, although it could have been hooker Luke Thompson instead ! After another missed conversion the score moved to 22-0 after 21 minutes.

The Tigers pack continued to go backwards at a rate of knots but scrum-half James Townsend was getting adept at quickly getting the ball away from the base of the scrum but on this occasion his run was ended by a tackle by Metcalf, who then showed the greater strength to rip the ball away from the Tigers scrum-half.

However, Townsend was powerless at the next scrum as Chinnor pushed the visitors’ pack off the ball and after the ball was spread wide, Simpson scorched down the touchline to score in the corner. Another difficult conversion slipped wide so the score was now 27-0 after 26 minutes.

A period of scrappy play followed until the referee stopped play due to an injury to Leicester lock Charles, who had to leave the field and be replaced. The game resumed with a scrum to Tigers, which was steady this time.

A promising Leicester move was brought to a halt after a pass that was only about 5 metres forward. After the Chinnor scrum, Richman chipped ahead but the ball hilariously bounced wickedly away from both the chasing attackers and defenders. After several knock-ons, Tigers claimed the ball but could only pass straight to Chinnor’s Metcalf who had an easy stroll under the posts. Unfortunately for the home side the referee had spotted at least one of the knock-ons, and disallowed the try and awarded a scrum to Leicester.

Tigers again ran the ball from the scrum but dropped the ball in midfield. The Tigers scrum was again marched back 10 metres, and when Chinnor ran the ball, Metcalf stepped inside from his wing but was tackled short of the tryline. When Chinnor attempted to move from right to left the move ended with a Dambuster pass and a knock-on.

Leicester were able to take play back into the Chinnor 22, but after Campbell won a line-out, Chinnor kicked to touch to end the half.

Tigers must have been given some strong words during the interval as they started the second half on the front foot but were unable to make any impression on the Chinnor defence. They did win a penalty following which some handbags broke-out, but after consulting with his assistant the referee reversed his decision and awarded the penalty to Chinnor.

Brockschmidt won the line-out, flanker Izzy Wharton made a break but was tackled short of the line. Several drives were stopped until Richman looked up and chipped to the corner for the unmarked James Bourton to catch and flop over the line. Simpson took over the kicking duties and added the extras taking the score to 34-0 with 45 minutes played.

Chinnor nearly scored shortly after the restart but after Campbell charged down an attempted clearing kick inside the Leicester 22, the Chinnor forwards were pinged in their eagerness to get to the loose ball.

The Tigers defenders were now working overtime to prevent further scores, as Will Cave was unable to hold onto an offload from Simpson, and a good run from Tom Watson was ended by a tackle close to the tryline.

A snipping run from substitute scrum-half Luke Carter forced another penalty, which took Chinnor back to 5 metres from the Leicester tryline. Wacokecoke was able to dance over the line after Chinnor spread the ball from the line-out and it was now Nathan Chamberlain’s turned to knock over the conversion. 41-0 after 55 minutes.

Leicester had a half-opening following a chip ahead, but the Tigers player who got to the ball first kicked poorly ahead and the ball went dead, and would have been covered by a Chinnor defender anyway.

Chinnor squandered a good opportunity by infringing at their 5 metres line-out and Tigers worked their way up the field to the Chinnor 22. After Gilson-Fox won Chinnor line-out ball, Chinnor went the length of the field, with Dugmore’s off-load giving Carter a run under the posts. Chamberlain added the easy conversion so Chinnor now lead 48-0 with 65 minutes played.

Another flowing Chinnor move ended with Joe Brock being hauled down short of the line, then Tigers next venture into the Chinnor 22 was thwarted by conceding a penalty at their 5-metre line-out.

There was still time for one more try. Chinnor kicked a penalty into the Leicester 22, and from the lineout, Carter broke but was tackled short of the whitewash. A number of Chinnor forwards barged over the line and the referee awarded the try although it wasn’t clear who the scorer was. Chamberlain again added the extras to give Chinnor a half-century off points. It was 55-0 after 78 minutes.

Chinnor were able to take play back into the Leicester 22, but after messing up a rolling maul from a lineout the referee brought an end to the proceedings.

Leicester deserved huge credit in the first place for agreeing to come to Chinnor, and Fatbear felt a little sorry for them giving the Prem Cup fixture scheduling after this friendly had been agreed. It would have been easy for Leicester to use that as an excuse to cry-off but they fulfilled their commitments and 3,000 spectators, quite a few of them wearing Leicester shirts, got to enjoy a Friday night out watching some rugby.

The Tiger cubs also deserve praise for their commitment during the match and they worked hard to deny Chinnor a number of try scoring chances and to keep the score down. However, Chinnor showed they are a good side, and demonstrated the gulf that exists between Junior Academy sides and The Champ. Sad to say that not one of the Tigers’ players tonight looked capable of being loaned to a Champ side this season, but that is not to say some of them won’t develop into top class or even internationals with a few more years’ experience.   Hopefully they will have learnt something from tonight’s game !

Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvSxhXbYME0 

Chinnor ( 15 to 1 ) : Simpson – Metcalf, Watson, Bourton, Hughes – Richman, Pascoe – Passman, Cave, Du Toit – Brockschmidt, Campbell – Johnston, Thompson, Rukhadze

Replacements ( 16 to 25 ): Walker, Owen, Hardwick, Gilson-Fox, Dugmore, Wharton, Hall, Carter, Chamberlain, Brock, Wacokecoke, Currie, Smith

Leicester Tigers ( O to A ) : Robinson - Stickings, Milner, Myall, Gordon-Astbury – Talbot, Townsend – Smith, Poyser, Chessum – Bekoe, Charles – Ayiehfor, Longyear, Beere

Replacements ( P to X ) : Hanna, Pybus, Batikora, Rafferty, Brown, James, Cadden, Colbert, Bunch

 

Chinnor 29-14 Richmond ( att : 2,152 ) - 2025/26 English Champ

May 9, 2026

Today saw the final round of fixtures in the Champ regular season as Chinnor hosted Richmond.

Two weeks ago, these diaries reported on Chinnor’s comfortable 32-22 victory over Worcester Warriors. Last Saturday, two late tries saw them pick up two bonus points in a 28-30 loss at Bedford Blues which kept them in 5^th place in the table, and needing just one point from today’s game to secure a place in the end of season play-offs. Any victory would see Chinnor finish in 5^th place and a trip to either Coventry or Worcester awaited in the play-off quarter-final.

Richmond This Season

Richmond came into today’s game in 12^th place with a 7-1-17 record, but were a poor 2-1-9 away from the Athletic Ground.

Having won promotion from National League One last season, Richmond begin the season with a heartening 18-13 home win over Chinnor in a game reported on by Fatbear. However, since then the only wins had been a double over winless Cambridge ( H 38-22, A 54-5 ), home wins against Hartpury University ( 17-12 ), Caldy ( 31-12 ) and Nottingham ( 17-15 ), then last week Richmond beat tenants London Scottish 24-17 in what was officially an away game. The draw was a notable 7-7 effort at Hartpury.

Richmond already knew that they would have to play London Scottish in the relegation play-off, where they would be the “home” side. Victory would see them playing in the Championship next season, but defeat would mean facing the winner of the National League One promotion play-off between Blackheath and Plymouth Albion at the RAG.

Richmond’s average home attendance this season was 1,079, with 1,950 attending the derby with London Scottish but only 700 watched their game against Coventry.

Previous Meetings

Prior to this season’s match, the two sides had last met in 2023/24, when Chinnor won both encounters on their way to winning National League One. Fatbear covered both games, with Chinnor winning 55-26 at home and 41-16 at the RAG.

However, these were the only occasions when Chinnor had tasted victory over Richmond, having lost in the four earlier meetings. In Chinnor’s first ever season at the 4^th level of English rugby in 2008/09, they lost 21-35 at home and 21-23 at the Athletic Ground, then in the aborted 2019/20 season, Richmond won 26-14 at home, and in a game featured in these diaries, they were victorious 21-5.

Matchday Information

The journey from Richmond to Thame is 46 miles and should normally take around an hour via the M4, M25 and M40.

Adult tickets purchased online were £16 and £20 at the gate, and an online programme had been prepared in advance of today’s game.

The usual food vendors for burgers, pizzas, crepes and coffee were in place, and a pint of XT4 was £5.18 with the member’s 10% discount.

With an eye very much on next weekend’s relegation play-off, Richmond made 15 changes to their starting XV that beat London Scottish last weekend, although five of today’s starters were substitutes last week. Furthermore, six of the side started the game against Chinnor back in October, back-row forwards Jared Cardew and Miles Wakeling, scrum-half Alex Schwarz, wing Josh Adams, centre Ronnie du Randt and full-back Greg Kitson. Harlequin fly-half Connor Slevin, who made 16 appearances for Chinnor last season and one this season, was also in the Richmond side

Chinnor made three changes to the side that narrowly lost at Bedford.  Luke Carter and Callum Pascoe swopped at scrum-half, Conor Brockschmidt replaced Willie Ryan at lock and Oscar Yandall was to make his first appearance of the season, coming in for Joe Brock at full-back.

It was cloudy with patches of blue sky at the 15.00 kick-off with a solitary red kite on patrol above the ground. The temperature was 20 degrees and the infamous Chinnor breeze was at its most benign, making it very pleasant conditions for watching rugby.

Richmond were playing in their traditional yellow, red and black hoops with black shorts whilst Chinnor were in their usual home kit of black and white.

Match Report

Chinnor booked their place in the play-offs but they were made to work hard by a much changed Richmond XV. 'Mond led 14-7 at the interval and were good value for their lead, with Kitson, Dardis and Slevin all looking lively with ball in hand and Richmond were winning their set-pieces. Chinnor's play was error-strewn, all too often looking for a flamboyant pass than keeping the ball in hand.

However, Chinnor scored early in the second period to bring the score to 12-14, and the introduction of Rukhadze, Walker and Hardwick to the front row saw Chinnor take control in the scrums and rucks, and Campbell started to win both Chinnor and Richmond line-outs. 

Walker in particular was inspired, scoring the third try from a rolling maul to put Chinnor's noses in front, and then with a penalty advantage his chip ahead caused chaos in the Mond defence, leading to Carter's crossfield kick for Goss to catch and run over in the corner to take the score to 22-14. A 5th try 5 minutes from the end sealed the 29-14 victory.

Score Timeline

Richmond were first on the scoreboard when the parting of the red sea enabled lock Archie Winchfield-Beale to pick up at the base of a ruck and stroll under the posts for a try on his first-team debut for Richmond. Slevin added the extras. 0-7 after 9 minutes.

Two minutes later Richmond prop James Litchfield was shown a yellow card for a high tackle, or as a wag next to me said, his name should be “leave field” !

With a player advantage, Chinnor were camped in the Richmond 22, and eventually the pressure told with flanker Will Cave barging his way over the try-line. Fly-half Nathan Chamberlain slotted over the conversion to level the scores at 7-7 after 19 minutes.

Richmond took advantage of a couple penalties to take play deep inside the Chinnor 22, and peeling off from a line-out rolling maul, Wakeling dived over and Slevin’s conversion gave Richmond a 14-7 lead with 25 minutes played.

Although Chinnor dominated play for the rest of the first half, they were unable to make any inroads past a resolute Richmond defence, so the visitors headed to the dressing rooms with a 14-7 lead.

Chinnor’s front row changes early into the second half had an almost immediate impact as they pressed the Richmond line, but the defence was drawn in, and a long pass gave wing Keiran Goss an easy score in the corner. With regular kicker Chamberlain having left the field through injury, the ball was thrown to replacement scrum-half Pascoe, whose attempted conversion sailed narrowly wide. The score was now 12-14 after 47 minutes.

With Chinnor still needing one point to be certain of making the play-offs, the home were starting to get restless, but after Richmond were pinged for not rolling away at a ruck, the penalty was kicked to 5 metres. Line-out ball was secured and with several backs joining in the rolling maul, Walker crashed over the whitewash to give Chinnor the lead. Pascoe’s attempted conversion again drifted wide from close to the touchline, but Chinnor now had a 17-14 lead with 64 minutes on the clock.

Chinnor were now rampant and with a penalty advantage Walker’s chip ahead caused chaos in the Mond defence, and when Chinnor regained possession, Carter's cross-field kick found Goss on his opposite wing to catch and run over in the corner. Yandall took over kicking duties but his effort from close to the touchline also drifted narrowly wide, but Chinnor now led 22-14 after 69 minutes.

The scoring was wrapped up when another Richmond infringement resulted in the penalty being kicked deep into the Mond 22, and after several drives close to the line, Rukhadze dived over close to the posts, and Yandall added the extras. The score became 29-14 with 73 minutes played.

In the closing stages Richmond threw the ball around seeking to make a breakthrough, but the Chinnor defence held firm, to secure the five-point victory.

Chinnor now travel to Worcester in the play-off quarter-final. I don't know if it is true, but I was told that the gate receipts in the play-offs are shared, so Chinnor would earn a tidy sum from a 9,500 sell-out at Sixways !

Richmond have their relegation play-off next week against London Scottish, whilst Hartpury’s 30-21 victory over Cornish Pirates gave them a trip to Coventry in the over play-off quarter-final.