21st May 2025
Match Report – Chinnor 19 London Scottish 24
In a basketball Esque match at a sun-drenched Kinsey Road London Scottish made the most of their opportunities to take the win and 4 points. The match was played at a Helter skelter pace in front of a huge and passionate crowd that was a superb advert for late spring rugby. It was the clinical redzone efficiency of the visitors which proved to be the difference, and the game was basically won in the last 2 minutes of the 1st half. Chinnor had dominated foe large swathes of the first stanza and had taken a deserved lead after Keston Lines had crashed over on 32 minutes. A magnificent offload from Rob Hardwick put Luke Carter away, who linked with talismanic Captain Willie Ryan. Ryan careered to within a metre and Lines did the rest.
However Chinnor failed to deal with the restart and the hugely dangerous William Simonds made inroads which gave the impressive William Trenholm the opportunity to crash over and take the lead. With time running out in the first half Chinnor’s indiscipline cost them as a penalty gave the visitors a chance to launch an attack, and again the on loan Harlequins back 3 showed their cutting edge as a super dink from Josh Bellamy was superbly finished off from the highly dangerous Roma Zheng to give London Scottish a barely believable 21-12 lead at the break.
In energy sapping conditions the pace of the game started to take a toll on the players with numerous unforced errors. Both sides looked to attack from these turnovers and went extremely close to scoring. A poor tap from Chinnor saw Bailey Ransom go close but superb Morgan Passman defence saved a try, back came Chinnor with a chip a chase from the hugely impressive Grant Hughes who chased his kick down and tackled Simmonds 3 metres from the line. A quick tap was taken from Calum Pascoe who fed Hardwick to crash over. Bizarrely the try was disallowed after the referee had awarded the points. Chinnor did subsequently manage to score after several pick and goes Nathan Chamberlain cross kicked to the mercurial Kieran Goss who caught the ball on the back foot and step inside the cover to score under the posts. 19-12 with 5 minuter remaining and it was truly game on. However, the visitors managed the last few minutes and take the win.
Scottish had taken the lead when Jonny Law got on the end of a superb break from Simonds. Chinnor struck back immediately when the ever dangerous Luke Carter made a searing break and when he chipped the fullback kept in the hunt and was first to the bouncing ball. But Chinnor’s inability to deal with the last few minutes cost them dear.
Brian Redpath said happy with the win” really pleased after a tough game, we managed to win the key plays and our extra quality was too good for Chinnor”
Nick Easter” Our mistakes cost us, we played as ever to the end but must take our chances. It’s a learning curve and we’ll get there”.
Chinnor-
Smith 7 ( Slevin 70, 6), Hughes 8, Watson 7, Passman 6 (Bourton 60, 6), Goss 7, Chamberlain, 7 Carter 8(Pascoe 68,6), Ryan 9 , Stokes 7 (Hall 65,6), Dugmore 8, Atuanya 7 (Rafferty 6), Shaw 6, Hardwick 8 (Porter 74, 6), Walker 7 ( Cave 68, 6) Lines 8 ( Rukhadze7)
Tries- Carter, Lines, Goss
Cons- – Chamberlain x2
London Scottish-
Bellamy 8, McMillan 7, Lloyd -Seed 7 (Gribbon 60 7), Simonds 9, Zheng 9, Shappard 8, Law 7 (Nutton 68 6), Marhall7, Ransom 8, Trenholm 8, Carr 8, Wilkinson 5 (Davies 68 6), Mpiko 6 (Ashworth 65 6), Wallis 9, Clarke 7 (Prior 65 6)
Tries- Law, Zheng,Trenholm
Con- Lloyd-Seed x3
Pen- Bellamy
Referee-Alan Chandrachud
Attendance- 2056
Man of Match- Waliis
Chinnor
Scrums- 4/0
Lineout 14/4
Pens – 7
Y/C- 1
London Scottish
Scrums- 7/1
Lineout – 10/3
Pen – 6
Chinnor’s final game of the historic season will be at home on the 31st May. Make sure you are there to cheer the boys on and revel in the end of season beach party atmosphere.
