Match report courtesy of the
Maids take it on the Chinn
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Chinnor professionally took their chances in the second half to wrap up the points, and the South West Division 1 title, even though it was visitors Maids who dominated this clash for the first hour.
Winning the toss and probably unwisely choosing to kick with the strong, downfield wind, Maids put steady pressure on an uncertain Chinnor side. Winning plenty of lineout ball through Alex Gallina, Brendon Lynch and Paul Jones enabled the strong back line, including Simon Cripps and Stuart Douglas in the centre, to cause Chinnor to hang on.
Danny Walton duly kicked a straightforward penalty after a desperate Chinnor hand in the ruck to give Maids a 3-0 lead and then increased the lead with another penalty shortly after. Play was taking place between the 22m lines with home front jumper Hutchings winning his fair share of lineout ball, while Maids’ attacks were taking place from too far out instead of first belting the ball into the Chinnor 22m area and then unleashing their strong runners in the backs.
However, from one such ploy, which took Maids into the Chinnor 22, a good lineout catch by Gallina gave Cripps the chance to burst powerfully through the centre bouncing off his defender to score an excellent try for Walton to improve to 13-0. Both sides made ground using the rolling maul and Maids looked as though they were going to score from this on two or three occasions but could not quite finish them off. Home full-back Hewitt missed a tricky penalty into the wind and just before half time, main lineout man Hutchings was yellow carded for a wild indiscretion in a ruck.
After the break Maids continued to attack through the backs and held Chinnor comfortably for the third quarter. A good three quarter move was only spoilt by a dropped pass by Richie Craig and a succession of rolling mauls was only just kept out by desperate Chinnor defence. Beginning to use the wind better, Chinnor opened their score with a penalty from Hewitt. But still Maids looked in control, with both Cripps and Douglas – having his best game for Maidenhead – a real handful. But again their breaks were made too far out from the try line.
It was only in the last quarter that Chinnor began to get into the game and a good break by home scrum-half Thompson opened up the Maids midfield defence for a good try, converted by Hewitt to bring the score to 13-10.
However, Maids’ continued to battle hard, led by Mark Mueller who was having an outstanding game in the loose and always made ground, committing at least two defenders to bring him down. Maids in the meantime lost two strikes against the head which did not help their cause, and a long kick to the visitors’ line enabled Hewitt to level the scores with a simple penalty. Not long after, Douglas went off with a pulled hamstring to be replaced by Jonny Hammond.
The Maids backs were finding it more difficult to make ground as Chinnor became more confident and, with less than 10 minutes remaining, another break by the home scrum-half fed the outstanding No.6 Rixon, who drew the last defender and gave replacement Devine a try under the posts converted by Hewitt. Another penalty by Hewitt eased the pressure for Chinnor before Maids brought on outstanding colt Joe Thomas for his first taste of senior rugby in the back row, who gave Maids an indication of his future potential. In the last five minutes. with Chinnor at last beginning to taste what had been an unlikely victory, a long kick to the Maids line enabled the Chinnor forwards to roll a maul sufficiently for home winger Brown to pick up and dive over for a try, converted by Hewitt to complete the scoring.
This was an excellent game of rugby in which the victors were only the better side for the last quarter but who showed their ability by clinically taking their three tries to prove worthy winners in the end. Maids did not score quite enough points in the first half to pressurise Chinnor into unforced errors but it was a close run thing. Man of the match was Simon Cripps who, apart from his excellent try, was always hard to stop with his hard, straight running and whose centre partnership with Oxford Blue Douglas was always a threat.
Maidenhead coach Simon Edwards had mixed emotions after Saturday’s defeat at Chinnor, a result which saw the Oxfordshire side secure the title and promotion to the national leagues. Clearly experiencing a complex blend of pride and disappointment, he said: "The better team lost"
"Our problem was, we lost Stuart Douglas with a pulled hamstring during the match". "Jonny (Hammond) had pulled up with a hamstring before the game, but he had to come on and they came through that gap twice. It was just bad luck".
"But it was a very good performance from Maidenhead. "We were 13-0 up at half-time, but it should have been 20. "We had a disallowed try, which was a ridiculous decision. It was from a driving maul. We were five yards from their line and still moving, but the referee said ‘play it’. "You know forwards.They don’t like to get rid of the ball when they’re that close to the line, so they drove over and scored. "But the ref pulled it back saying he’d told them to play it. "That was a crucial point, a couple of minutes from the end of the first half. "Then, 10 minutes into the second half we should have had three points from a penalty. "That would have made it 16-0 and they would have needed two scores.
"We were a bit naive and we needed to score more in the first half. "But defensively we were superb until the last 10 minutes. We were definitely the better side. "Personally I’m delighted with the way the game plan went. "We prepared very carefully and the coaches and the players got everything right, apart from a couple of poor decisions at crucial times in the game. "That happens. We’re not professionals. But I’m upset that we didn’t ruin their party. They weren’t worth 30 points and I was disappointed to lose the game having controlled it for 60 minutes, and then let it go in the last quarter."
Edwards was also disappointed to be verbally abused and threatened by members of the crowd on the way back to the changing rooms. He said: "That was very disappointing indeed." There was some good news for Edwards this week, as Nick Kertesz returned to action following surgery to his shoulder, albeit for the second string. Edwards said: "I’m very pleased. He wanted to be involved next season and he’s a great asset for the club."