In the first match of the season, the persistent rain did not dampen Chinnor's desire to start the 16-17 campaign with a win. They duly delivered with a 47-10 victory over London Irish Wild Geese, newly returned to National 2 South.
The first quarter of the game was even. Wild Geese looked like scoring immediately after the start with Hodgkinson slicing through the home defence. The ball was turned over on the 10 metre line and Kieran Goss broke out to deliver the ball into Henry Lamont's hands 80 metres downfield for the first try in the first minute. Wild Geese came back with a converted try minutes later from Seb Rodwell to lead 7-5. Bertie Hopkin, with a penalty goal restored the Chinnor lead. Hodgkinson did the same for the visitors to put them 10-8 ahead. The Chinnor pack then exerted repeated scrum pressure leading to a penalty try. Hopkin converted for a 15-10 lead. Another penalty scrum saw the ball fly through Chinnor hands to see Kieran Goss over on the stroke of half time for a 20-10 lead to the Oxfordshire boys.
Wild Geese had more of the ball in the third quarter but foundered on a stiff Chinnor defence. Hopkin increased Chinnor's lead with a penalty goal for a 23-10 lead. The Chinnor scrum pressure notched up a level with the introduction of Nathan Hannay and Richard Thorpe. The resultant stream of penalties lead to several scores. Hopkin darted through for the bonus point try from a particularly bruising scrum. Chinnor kept attacking in the red zone and George Messum barrelled over for Chinnor's fifth. Greg Goodfellow darted over after the Chinnor scrum put their opponents into reverse. The Chinnor scoring sequence ended just before the final whistle when Mark Darlington was ushered over the line by the now rampant Chinnor pack to finish the match with a 47-10 victory to Chinnor.
Chinnor adjusted to the dire conditions the better of the two sides. The game was won and lost in the packs. The Chinnor scrum was dominant throughout, particularly in the second half when the addition of Hannay and Thorpe added even more power. Two of Chinnor’s seven tries came directly from scrum pressure. The other tries came through incisive back play often as a result of the power of the Chinnor pack. Hopkin and Goodfellow were sharp to the gap and new skipper Armitage was the lynchpin of so much of the backs’ good works. The back row led a great defensive effort.
Irish, suffering at the hands of the Chinnor pack, saw their fortunes plummet when influential fly half Pete Hodgkinson left the field injured. Wild Geese never gave up but need to shore up their pack to avoid an uncomfortable return to National 2 South.
Chinnor’s result sees them top of the table – a first! (but only one match has been played of course). The Chinnor pack probably jointly deserve Man of the Match but there can only be one and CJ Osazuwa gets the accolade this time out.
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Teams
Chinnor
Kieran Goss, Luke Hibberd, Danny Barnes, Bevon Armitage (c), Henry Lamont, Bertie Hopkin, Greg Goodfellow, Tom Price, Jamie Townsend, Andy Darlington, CJ Osazuwa, Ross Parkins, Ben Manning, George Messum, Tom Burns
Interchanges: Jay Tyack, Mark Darlington, Nathan Hannay, Richard Thorpe, Junior Fatialofa
London Irish Wild Geese
Ben Kitchen, Matt Killeen, Seb Rodwell, Sean Cunningham, Conrad Burne, Pete Hodgkinson, Tom Barker, Charlie Connor, Darren Livett, Eddie Fraher, George Dry, Andy Evans, Jack Cooke, Tyler Bush, Scott Moore (c)
Interchanges: Craig Decoteau, John Barker, Ryan Bifield, Alex Tate, Ian Bradshaw
Scorers
Chinnor
Tries (time): Lamont (1), Penalty (30,) Goss (40), Hopkin (63), Messum (68), Goodfellow (78), Darlington M (80)
Conversions (time): Hopkin (31, 70, 79)
Penalty Goals (time): Hopkin (10, 59)
London Irish Wild Geese
Tries (time): Rodwell (7)
Conversions (time): Hodgkinson (8)
Penalty Goals (time): Hodgkinson (23)
Referee: David Clarkson
Attendance: 241
Half time score: 20-10
Full time score: 47-10
