Banbury 3XV 5 - 90 Chiltern 3 XV

14 try Bonanza

Chiltern (45) 90
Tries: Bobbett, Fischer G, Fischer N, Foster 2, Kent, Lawson, Reid 2, Richardson D 2, Shepherd 2, Turner
Conversions: Rastelli 10

Banbury (5) 5
Tries: 1

Chiltern 3rds continued their impressive start to the season by scoring 14 tries in a 90 point haul away at Banbury, firstly, a huge well done must go to Banbury who never gave up, managed to grab a try themselves in first half, and in the second half had a ten minute spell of pressure camped in Chiltern's 22.

Only 5 players survived from last weeks team, but an impressive lineout took to pitch, Will Howe, Rob Long and Matt Lawson in the front row, club debutante Craig Yandell was joined by Rich Bobbett at lock, with a back row of Simon Turner, Nick Fischer (but maybe it was Graeme) and Charlie Kent. Half Backs of Gavin Reid and Nick Rastelli, were joined by centres, Tim Bond and Graeme Fischer (but it might have been Nick), out on the wings Chad Shepherd and Dave Morgan, and at fullback Dave Richardson, all ably supported by subs, Russ Bolton and Neil Foster.

Chiltern dominated most of this match, great work in scrums, provided a solid platform, for the back row to penetrate, allowing the half backs, to move the ball swiftly down the line creating plenty of opportunity out wide for Chiltern's pacey backs to convert possession into points. 7 tries in the first half, 2 for scrum half Gavin Reid, 2 for winger Chad Shepherd, 1 for fullback Dave Richardson, and 1 each for forwards Matt Lawson and Simon Turner. Nick Rastelli scored 5 conversions, although was still heard whinging several hours later in the bar that it was 6.

The second half brought uncontested scrums as Banbury could not find a front replacement, which prevented Chiltern from dominating again, and game opened up, however this was appeared to due to some generous refereeing, as Chiltern conceded a large number of 'forward' passes, in fact during the second half Chiltern did get one put into a scrum! However great open play, especially the amount of turnover ball won by the Fischer twins, enable Chiltern to bag another 7 tries, with Neil Foster displaying all of that pace and strength to score 2, Dave Richardson got his second, the Fischer twins shared one each, and Charlie Kent grabbed one, your intrepid reporter one also, however it must be said that was a benevolent gimme from Craig Yandell. In the second half Nick scored another 5 conversions.

Overall an impressive display of rugby skills, solid work by tight 5, including the obvious class of our new second row Craig Yandell, penetration from the back row, movement and vision from half backs, and great running lines from the backs.

But it could have been more! Chad managed to intercept in his own 22, only to caught a few metres from the line, a little more work to get that silky pace back yet! a great break by the forwards through the middle of the park, was thawted by a Fischer twin dropping the ball! If the backs had worked out that new scrum half was called Gavin, not Danny, he might have passed it to them a few more times, if Craig had realised it doesn't matter what lineout call Rob uses he could still throw it anywhere, if the referee hadn't intercepted Russ's fly kick, and if the club could acquire a pair of new shirts so we could easily identify which Fischer was which, who knows what the final score could have been.

Well done to all 17 players today, the opposition Banbury who put on a spirited performance and the referee who also had a good performance, the final decision of the day was man of the match, great performance all over the pitch today, Craig Yandell, and Simon Turner showed their class up front, Nick Rastelli, Neil Foster and Tim Bond showed their first team pedigree in the backs, but it was decided to give this to a Fischer after much debate about which one, the final decision was Man of the Match goes to both the twins!

However the final mention should go to Simon Williams, our new team manager, looking after the kit, ensuring we had plenty of water on this hot day, well done and thank you, we look forward to your support throughout the season.

Team:
1 Lawson, 2 Long (capt), 3 Howe, 4 Bobbett, 5 Yandell, 6 Turner, 7 Fischer G, 8 Kent, 9 Reid, 10 Rastelli, 11 Morgan, 12 Bond T, 13 Fischer N, 14 Shepherd, 15 Richardson D, 16 Bolton, 17 Foster

Richard Bobbett 20/9/08