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Rugby: Chinnor pay the penalty

From the archive, first published Tuesday 22nd Nov 2005.

South West Division 1: Chinnor surrendered their unbeaten record and with it their top-of-the-table spot when they went down by three penalties to two at Reading Abbey on Saturday.

The home side put the Chinnor scrum under pressure from the word go, denying them the quality possession they thrive on.

The visitors were convinced they had gone over the line early on, but the referee ruled accidental offside, and with the teams level at half-time, one score always looked likely to settle the issue.

Richard Williams landed Chinnor's penalties, but missed a couple of other attempts which could have swung the game in his side's favour.

Chinnor surrendered top spot to Clifton, who were 51-0 winners over Oxford Harlequins.

With many changes to their side, Quins were always up against it, although some good defensive work saw them withstand the home side's initial onslaught.

Two Barnes penalties put Clifton in command and despite some excellent work from the Quins back row of Phil Vinter, No 8 Jamie Cope and debutant Alistair Craddock, the home side slowly turned the screw.

Quins kept battling away and some strong runs by Charlie Mawle kept the home defence at full stretch, while the accurate throwing of hooker Dave Needham and good lineout work by Andy Dawson gave them a steady supply of ball.

Clifton led 32-0 at the break, but Quins upped their efforts in the second half, with Simon Chadbone and Dan Bonnano catching the eye.

It was not until the 75th minute that Clifton broke away to score a converted try against the run of play, and two more converted tries in the dying minutes gave them a flattering scoreline.

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