Sun 7 Nov 2021, 14:00
Wallingford made the journey up to Chinnor to play their 4th league game against their “B” team.
With 5 players departing for county duty at half time, Wallingford started the first half with a strong line-up with the likes of Johnson playing 8 in the absence of Billy McMullet with a few more changes around the pitch.
Wallingford started strong with a forward carry from the half way line pushing Chinnor right back to their twenty-two with Johnson offloading to Finlay Harrison (c) in the first 3 minutes of the game. Play soon stopped as a nasty shoulder injury to Chinnor’s 10 gave the teams a few minutes to assess the previous 5 minutes.
Play resumed as Wallingford began to look the more dominant side in attack as they nightclubbed their way over the line but was held up by the home side.
Changes were made in the centres as JJ Brown, fresh from a half marathon in the morning, came on at inside centre, Lukas Yendole joined the forward pack alongside Hector Jameson. The scrums pushed Chinnor back as the front row put in a solid performance to heap pressure on their opposite numbers.
Set play came together in both the forwards and back even against a strong wind making long passes difficult to work with. This led to many short hard lines being run directly into the Chinnor defence. There were many carries from Matt, Johnson and Harvey that slowly tired the defending side as they muscled through in the midfield to get Wallingford once again on the front foot.
They kept their nerve as Chinnor broke the line to into Wallys twenty-two, but a Silas Allum turnover relieved the pressure, allowing Alister Marsden with a level headed clearance kick to allow Wallingford to chase and gain ground.
After a long and patient wait Wallingford's Johnson picked from the base of the scrum and ran through three of the Chinnor defence to get the first points of the game. With a questionable kicking style, Marsden scored a curving banana kick against the wind to take the score to 7-0 Wallingford.
A tough second half started with Wallingford losing their county players. Unfazed by this Wallingford came out with a high tempo that stretched the Chinnor defence, which culminated in a yellow card for a Chinnor player. Unforuntately Felix Cotton was soon sent to the bin as a result of a high tackle and evening the numbers up.
As the game and intensity progressed with numbers returning to 15, an exit kick from Marsden gave Wallingford an opportunity to chase up to Chinnor's twenty-two. Chinnor attempted to work their way out, but did not get far before being dumped into touch by occasional second row Bob Moroney. A second try soon followed as a fine pass from Tom Perrott found it’s way to Felix Cotton who stepped around several players to dot down, taking the score to 12-0. Conversion missed.
With 10 minutes remaining the line of defence kept the home side out of our twenty-two until Chinnor went over from a ruck to bring them closer to the win. Score 12-7.
In the final minute of the game, Chinnor edged closer and closer, before a knock on gave Wallingford possession which saw one of JJ Brown's amazing kicks to send the ball into touch ending the intense game 12-7.
Man of the match goes to Johnson Rabuka who pushed his was through many opposing players and linked forward and back play through-out the game. A solid performance.
Given the players missing and leaving half way through, this was an excellent win on the road in tricky conditions, reflecting the strength in depth of the squad at the moment.
