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Rugby: Ward stars in Trophy opener

From the archive, first published Tuesday 6th Sep 2005.

Chinnor 39, Reading Abbey 0: Chinnor showed plenty of potential as they brushed aside Reading Abbey in the Powergen National Trophy first round on Saturday.

A first-half onslaught ensured they began their competitive season with an emphatic victory at a hot Kingsey Road, but on this evidence Abbey will struggle to cope in South West 1.

The visitors had no answer to Chinnor's early dominance as Chad Ward and Matt Buckley wreaked havoc and only a flat second period spared them further embarrassment.

Chinnor will now travel to Clifton in the next round on September 17.

Returning No 8 and acting captain Paul Hennessy drove over on six minutes and when Ward crossed for his second, Abbey were dead and buried.

Henessey said: "It was a good performance, but there were areas to improve.

"We had three warm-up games, which were quite competitive, but it's not the same as the real thing. Hopefully we are finding our feet now.

"There were plenty of positives. The new hooker, JP Immelman, hit his man in the line well and the scrum was solid.

"The nil points conceded was important because you can lose your concentration a bit when you get so far ahead."

Chinnor's pack controlled the game from the start, typified by Hennessy's try, which Williams converted.

On 15 minutes, the simplest of back moves saw Eric Brown touch down in the left corner before Richard Williams added a penalty.

Chinnor laid siege to the Abbey line and eventually Buckley found Ward in space to cross over almost unchallenged on the right wing.

Abbey flanker Joe Hallett was sin-binned for killing the ball at a ruck and scrum-half Chris Burch soon joined him.

In between Chinnor scored twice. Firstly Matt Hutchins charged down a hapless kick from Abbey No 10 Thomas Burns and prop Bob Harris fed Andy Millburn for an easy try.

Four minutes later Ward took Thompson's pass, jinked past his man, and touched down for Williams to convert.

The second half began with centre Rewi Tollich finishing off a right to left move for the first of what will surely be many tries this season.

Williams's conversion proved to be the last score of the game, which tailed off as Chinnor brought on five replacements.

Chinnor: Buckley, Ward, Oxley, Tollich, Brown (Winbush 45), Williams (Hitchcock 45), Thompson, Winpenny, Immelman (Cawston 56), Harris (Devine 56), Hutchins, Millburn, Maxwell (Seymour 56), Cook, Hennessy.

Reading Abbey: Dunsford, Waterhouse, Waterson, Holt, Rowley, Burns, Burch, Moorcroft, Hodges, Jeffereys, (Shedden 40), Barton (Logan 50), McQuillan, Pawlett, Hallett, Finnie.

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