Chinnor return to winning ways in style

After the disappointment of their first defeat of the season last week to Canterbury, league leaders Chinnor looked back to their best in Round 12.

Matt Williams’ men comfortably beat Clifton in South Oxfordshire to not only stay top of National Two South, but extend their lead to seven points at the summit.

There was a change below them though as the Old Elthamians returned to second place in the standings following their victory over Exmouth and Bishops Stortford’s defeat to fourth placed Redruth.

Elsewhere, Taunton Titans secured their fifth away win of the season as they beat London Irish Wild Geese whilst it’s four wins in a row for Canterbury and three victories on the spin for Bury St Edmunds.

Chinnor 58-17 Clifton

Clifton were blown away by a scintillating display from Chinnor as CJ Osazuwa ran in three of their nine tries at Kingsey Road.

Clifton started well, taking a 5-0 lead thanks to a try from Alfie To’oala, but they had no answer to the home sides subsequent onslaught.

Chinnor hit back with first-half scores from Kieran Goss, Henry Lamont, Danny Barnes, Bevon Armitage and a two from Osazuwa for a 34-5 half-time lead.

The Black and Whites were rampant after the break with Osazuwa’s cutting edge complementing tries from Bertie Hopkin, Callum Wilson and Steve Castle.

Sam Harrison and To’oala dotted down for Clifton in the second period, but this was the perfect response from Chinnor as their title challenge is now firmly back on track.

Exmouth 8-29 Old Elthamians

The Old Elthamians moved back into second place in the National Two South table as they ended a two game losing streak with a bonus-point triumph over Exmouth.

Tries from Dom Lespierre and Tom Parker gave the OE’s an early lead.

But, full-back Richard Cadywould got Exmouth on the board just before the break to make it 12-3 as the home side ended the half the stronger.

Both teams were reduced to 14 men moments before half-time, but it was Exmouth who made the better start to the second-half as they looked to find an opening in the OE’s defence.

However, their failure to do so cost them dearly as the away side punished Exmouth with a Penalty Try and a score from Harry Ledger.

Exmouth continued to battle in this game and finished strongly to gain their first try of the match. Ducky Fordham and Sam Waltier were both sin-binned for the OE’s and Tom Bedford profited from that to go over in the left corner.

However, there was still time for the OE’s to have the final say as Rob White dived under the posts to wrap up a much needed win for the away side.

Redruth 24-13 Bishops Stortford

Kyle Marriott and Barrie John-Chapman ran in first-half tries as Redruth ended Bishops Stortford’s six game winning streak with an impressive victory at the Recreation Ground.

In wet Cornwall weather, the home crowd also saw Angus Taylor kick nine points as Stortford were denied their first victory since the beginning of October.

A fiercely-contested first half ended 17-3 in Redruth’s favour thanks to Marriott and John-Champan’s tries as well as six points from the boot of Taylor cancelling out an early penalty from Stortford’s Tom Banks.

Stortford begun the second-half on the front foot and were rewarded when Declan Caulfield smashed his way over.

The next score would prove crucial in this contest and it was the home side who grabbed it as Pale Nonu barged his way over from a catch and drive on 66 minutes.

Matt Tomlinson got a second unconverted try for the visitors but that was as good as it got for Bishops Stortford as Redruth held on for an important win.

London Irish Wild Geese 24-49 Taunton Titans

Taunton Titans bounced back from a disappointing defeat against Barnstaple last week by scoring seven tries as they thrashed newly promoted London Irish Wild Geese.

Two Gary Kingdom penalties gave Taunton an early 6-0 lead but the Wild Geese pegged them back as the prolific George Owen touched down for an unconverted try.

But that was as good as it got for the hosts in the first period as with a man advantage following a yellow-card to Scott Moore, the Titans ran in three tries with Dan Frost grabbing a brace whilst Stuart Persey and Alex Spurdle galloped over.

Taunton’s hard work seemed like it would come undone after half-time as Aron Struminski and Lewis Webb were sinbinned in quick succession and the visitors were punished during their absence as Matt Killeen dotted down.

Back to their full complement, Taunton then took control again as Conor Harbison crossed the whitewash on his debut.

Both sides then exchanged tries with Owen scoring his second for the hosts while Ratu Vakalutukali powered over for Taunton.

The Wild Geese continued to fight for the full 80 minutes in this contest and were rewarded with a bonus-point try as Tom Richards went over, but inevitably Taunton had the final say as Freddie Fraser scored in the corner to wrap up a morale boosting win for Tony Yapp’s side.

Redingensians 27-31 Canterbury

Canterbury made it four wins on the spin as they ended the Redingensians’ six match unbeaten run with victory at Old Bath Road.

The City Men have gone into the top six for the first time this season thanks to this win, but were 20-17 down at half-time thanks tries from Steve Bryant and Lloyd Owen.

Guy Hilton and Dan Smart crossed for Canterbury in the first period and Smart grabbed his second soon after the break to give the away side the lead.

JJ Murray then went over and with Tom Best converting both of Canterbury’s scores; they now had an 11 point lead in the final quarter of this match.

Chico U’Chong bundled across the line for the home side to move within four points of their visitors, but Canterbury held on to extend their winning run.

Bury St Edmunds 33-27 Barnstaple

Bury St Edmunds made it three wins a row thanks to this nail-biting bonus-point victory against a spirited Barnstaple side.

Tries from Chris Snelling, Pierre Peres and Chris Lord gave Bury a slender 22-20 half-time lead.

Barnstaple’s points had come from Ryan Carter as well as a Penalty Try and 10 points from the boot of Jordan Petheridge, but despite keeping in touch with Bury during the first period they fell further behind after the break.

Scott Lyle slotted over a penalty for the hosts before Lord went over for his second try of the afternoon to give Bury a 10-point lead.

But back came Barnstaple and it was easy to say why they head into this fixture unbeaten in their last three games. Their fighting spirit was on show as Issac Hydleman dotted down to reduce Bury’s lead to just three points.

Bury then retaliated and took control of the contest edging their way towards a vital score. They didn’t panic and neither did Lyle as he kept cool to nail a penalty to seal yet another nervy win for the Wolfpack.

Barnes 22-22 Cinderford

Barnes full-back Harry Hudson scored a last-gasp try to rescue a draw against Cinderford.

The first-half ended 22-10 to Cinderford courtesy of tries from James Moffat, Aaron Ryan and Henry Walker but Barnes responded after the break

Tariq Al Khaldi and Fraser Carlisle had both gone over in the first period for the hosts, but it took them until the last 10 minutes to complete the comeback.

Two yellow-cards for Cinderford were capitalised upon by Robbie Martey who scored a converted try before Hudson touched down to level up the scores in the dying moments of this contest.

Barnes could’ve have snatched the win but the conversion was missed meaning both sides had to settle for a share of the points.

Henley Hawks 30-22 Worthing Raiders

Henley Hawks ended a five game losing streak as they beat Worthing Raiders at Dry Leas to move just one point adrift of safety in National Two South.

The hosts took the lead early on and they never fell behind in this contest as they secured a much needed fourth win of the season.

A try from David Hyde and eight points from the boot of George Jackson saw the home side establish a 13-10 lead at half-time, with a Matt McLean penalty and Kiba Richards try making up the points for Worthing.

Raiders’ Dan Peach was yellow-carded just before the break and Henley used that to their advantage just after the restart as Tom Parton’s try made it 20-10.

Worthing weren’t prepared to roll over in this encounter and were back to within three points of their hosts as Finlay Coxon-Smith pounced on a loose ball to score.

The result was on a knife edge as the half wore on, put it was Jackson who pushed Henley towards the finish line as he converted his own try before slotting over a penalty.

Alan Awcock was yellow-carded for Henley which allowed Worthing to grab their third try of the day via Stuart Philpott, but the final whistle blew before the visitors could really take advantage of the extra man.