Chiltern 3XV 22-0 Marlow Straglers

Chiltern (12) 22
Tries: Chik, Kent, Bolton, Lee
Conversions: Bolton 2

Marlow 0

A late cry off by Wycombe left the 3s skipper Rob Long scrambling at last minute to find an alternative fixture, fortunately Marlow Stragglers stepped into the breach, and made a visit to Ash Grove this afternoon. So saturday started with the leagues point safely banked from the Wycombe game, leaving the 3s as the only unbeaten side and top of BBO 2N. The actual match against Marlow turned out to a tough, well fought contest on a wet, cold, windy and wintry afternoon, the game was won by Chiltern scoring two tries in each half.

As usual it was a strong Chiltern side that took the pitch, Paul Luker making a welcome return to the back row, and Bryan Winson making his first appearance at scrum half this season. The pack today, had Matt Lawson, Rob Long and Richard Bobbett in front row, Steve Reitz and Mike Griffiths at lock, and in the back row, Paul Luker, Simon Turner and Charlie Kent. Half backs, were Bryan Winson and Ryan Thomas, centres Brian Richardson and Russ Bolton, on the Wing Chik and Luke Johnson, and fullback Roshan Ratnapala, all three substitutes made appearances at half time, Ryan Lee, Steve Fowler and Liam Gilhooly.

The first half started with Chiltern taking advantage of a very strong wind, however, Marlow moved the ball well around the pitch and forced Chiltern to defend for several minutes, eventually the first try came, when Luke Johnson displayed some of his awesome pace to exploit a gap on the left wing and right winger Chik came around in support taking the ball on, ending rolling over several times with the ball to cross the line. A few minutes later inside centre 'Dangerous' Richardson took an excellent running line cutting open the Marlow defence, and when looking certain to score under the posts, decided to take an acrobatic swan dive, only to see the Marlow defender knock the ball out of his hands, however all was not lost, up stepped the Pack! The resulting 5 meter scrum, was driven straight across the try line, for number 8 Charlie Kent to secure the second try, Russ Bolton converted to make the half time score 12 - 0.

The main question on everyone's mind was a 12 point lead sufficient advantage given the strong wind which favoured Chiltern in the first half, so with all three substitutes taking the field at half time, the decision was made to run the ball in hand. The tactics worked well, with replacement 8 Ryan Lee picking the ball off the back of the scrums, and driving strongly up the pitch, probably the best player on the pitch in the second half. Marlow attempted to exploit the wind, with some penetrating kicks, however full back Liam Gilhooly supported by the pacey wing Luke Johnson returned them with interest, making a number of exciting runs back up the pitch. In fact try number three came from a break on the left wing by Luke, supported by Mike Griffiths, and finished off by Russ Bolton. The game continued as a tough contest, however a number of glaring mistakes costs Chiltern a wider margin, at least two dropped passes by flanker Luker can't go unrecorded. With the final play of the game, a quick tap penalty by Steve Fowler and pass to Ryan Lee, saw Ryan drive over for the fourth try in corner.

Two final mentions, in fact it could be three if I chose to describe the angles the lineout ball was being thrown, unfortunately none of them straight, however on a serious note, Chris Royals refereed the game today excellently, at 15 this was his third senior match, I suspect there will be many old chiltern players in  a few years time when Chris has reached the 'dissy heights' of refereeing will be sitting in their armchairs saying to their grandchildren, I played in one of the first games he ever did!! And last mention must go to Luke Johnson, a young back, with a great future, his natural pace, is more than enough to destroy most backs at this level, and probably higher, today, the Chiltern man of the match.

Team 1 Lawson, 2 Long (Capt), 3 Bobbett, 4 Reitz, 5 Griffiths, 6 Luker P, 7 Turner, 8 Kent, 9 Winson, 10 Thomas, 11 Chik, 12 Richardson B, 13 Bolton, 14 Johnson L, 15 Ratnapala, 16 Fowler sub'd Winson, 17 Gilhooly sub'd Ratnapala, 18 Lee sub'd Reitz

Richard Bobbett - 1st November 2008



Chiltern 3XV giving Marlow a lesson in scrummaging