| helenkay |
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| Joined: 07 Oct 2006 |
| Posts: 20 |
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B team
It was a beautiful, crystal clear, sunny morning but the ground remained stubbornly frozen for the duration of the B team match and it was decided that the best option was to play touch rugby. Banbury’s A team adapted to the change in game faster than Chinnor, who seemed unsettled and unsure of themselves.
As Chinnor began to settle down we saw some solid, accurate passing down the line from Adam Pipkin, Bryn Davis and Cameron Matthews that would have resulted in a try but for one loose pass just inches from scoring. Ed Baines and George Kent were quickly up on Banbury’s spilt ball winning turnovers for Chinnor but despite a number of good moves the try remained elusive. As the first half drew to a close, Banbury started to punch through Chinnor’s defence creating space and finally going over to score a try. Chinnor responded with great spirit and strong running from Matthew Donnelly. The move saw Chinnor cross the line only to have the try disallowed for a small infringement just before touchdown.
In the second half Callum Wright and Luca Rampin replaced Jake O’Neil and Jack Ellis. Chinnor came out fighting, with Ben MacIntosh and Tom Proberts upping the pressure. James Bull showed some fancy footwork as he sidestepped several Banbury players whilst taking the shortest route to the try line. Unfortunately, Banbury had mastered the art of creeping offside to almost New Zealand All Black standards and they constantly disrupted Chinnor’s game, winning possession that they quickly turned into pressure. There was some outstanding defence from Ed and Luca, the latter taking out 3 Banbury players in succession as each one received the restart pass from the player that he had just tackled. It was a great display of determination and in-your-face rugby.
Chinnor’s lineout worked well and despite continued pressure from Banbury, Chinnor threw the ball around accurately and then Conor Champion straightened up his running line, hit the ball at pace and made a strong break. In the end, Banbury’s continued pressure and straight running began to tell. In the final play of the match Banbury demonstrated fine hands, pace and strong support play to breach Chinnor’s line and go over for the second and final try of the match, bringing the final score to 0 – 10.
A team
After the efforts of the first match and a good hour of sunshine, the ground was deemed soft enough to return to contact and Chinnor got off to a good start with solid scrumming from Richard Hanlon and Charlie Krabbe and fluid passing from Charlie Proctor, Sam Edwards and James Millett. Matthew Smith set up a lovely try which Iestyn James took over the line to score. This was followed by some crunching tackles by Jack Gibbins and Harry Lowe which were typical of the extreme physicality of play.
More strong tackling from Thomas Strathdee, Jack and Matthew was in evidence in the second half. Liam Evans mustered the backs like a pro and showed them how it was done while Andrew Kay was terrier like in pursuit of the ball. Although Banbury was very strong in the scrum and made the most of every opportunity, Chinnor didn’t let them through their defense and the match ended with a well deserved 5 – 0 victory. |
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