Sat 22 Oct 2022
Wallingford welcomed unbeaten Chinnor III to the Hithercroft on a pleasant autumnal afternoon for a contest between first and third place in the league.
In selection, Wallingford were able to welcome back Lawson Dallimore to the pack, but lost the influential Nathan Chapman and Tom Bradfield to injury, whilst a last-minute withdrawal meant that they only had two subs on the bench.
The visitors started the better of the two sides as they enjoyed early some early possession and created the first chance of the game as a well-executed backs move saw them cut through the middle but good Wallingford cover defence snuffed out the chance.
The opening ten minutes saw Chinnor have plenty of possession, but they struggled to breakdown a well organised Wallingford defence.
With the sides evenly matched at set-piece, Wallingford began to get a foot hold in the game, but just as they were growing in confidence, Chinnor opened the scoring somewhat against the run of play. From a central scrum inside the Wallingford half, they attacked blind and the Chinnor full back showed good feet to beat his man and finish well for a converted try.
After that point, it was all Wallingford for the remainder of the half. After some sustained pressure in the Chinnor twenty-two, a Chinnor player was sin-binned for collapsing an advancing maul on the five meter line, which arguably should have been a penalty try.
Wallingford created several genuine chances, including being held up twice and an excellent break from Jamie Wood, but Chinnor defended brilliantly at times to deny the hosts.
The hosts were finally rewarded for their efforts when Wood went over from short range after Jacob Knight had created space out wide. Conversion missed.
Half time- Wallingford 5 – 7 Chinnor
With everything to play for in the second half, it was the hosts who struck first with a well taken penalty by Charles Campbell, as Wallingford took the lead early in the half.
By this point, Wallingford’s lack of a third sub was beginning to show, as injuries to Jack Payne and Matt Riley meant that Knight had to play nearly an hour with a pulled hamstring, and when Sam Botting went off with a head knock, Payne had to come back on to keep 15 players on the pitch.
As the game entered the last quarter, it was the visitors who scored the crucial next try. After earning a fortuitous penalty for a ‘high’ tackle a foot off the floor after their player had slipped, the resulting kick to the corner and rolling maul eventually found its way over the line for a converted try, giving Chinnor a 6 point lead.
Despite the re-jigged backline limiting Wallingford’s attack, they still created chances, but Chinnor’s defence largely held firm, and with just over 5minutes to go, an intercept on halfway saw the visitors deliver the hammer blow as they scored a third converted try.
That was the last meaningful act of the game as Wallingford harshly lost out on a losing bonus point, but also denied Chinnor the four try bonus point for the first time this season.
This was a hard-fought game been two relatively evenly matched sides. Chinnor, who boast a strong squad made up of former 1st XV players and ambitious younger players, were a well drilled outfit, especially in the pack, and were the first team to contain the Wallingford scrum this season.
Despite the loss, Wallingford should be proud of their performance, going toe to toe with the standout team in the league, and enjoying more possession and creating more chances than their visitors, but ultimately they didn’t take their chances and Chinnor did.
There were strong performances across the pitch, but Man of the Match went to Jamie Wood, who was excellent in the back row, both in attack and defence.
Match photos:
https://wallingfordrfc.rfu.club/gallery/1st-xv-vs-chinnor-22nd-oct-2022
