Chiltern III XV 10-12 Alchester I XV

Chiltern (5) 10
Tries: Bond, Lee

Alchester (0) 12
Tries: 2
Conversions: 1

The day started well for Chiltern 3s with another walk over in the league, this time, Stow on the Wold decided not to visit Weedon Lane, consequently the 3s remain top of BBO2N and the only unbeaten team in that division.

However a friendly was arranged during the week, with the Bicester based club Alchester visiting Chiltern, and they proved to be a tough opposition eventually running out with a 10-12 victory, for those who have not heard of Alchester, this is their first season, yet to find themselves a home ground, but take the name from a Roman Fort just outside Bicester.

Chiltern started the match with a strong team, dominated by an abundance of prop forwards, however the starting front row, saw the welcome and long overdue return of Garry Holmes, and Alan Simmons, joined at hooker by Rob Long, Richard Bobbett dropped back to second row, alongside 'Pencil' Dave Robertson - who went on to gain man of the match, Simon Turner and 'Chips' - Matt Lawson were the flankers and Ryan Lee number 8. Tom Reynolds at scrum half and Ryan Thomas at fly half, joined in centres by Brain Richardson and Tim Bond, Chad Shepherd and 'Head' - Russ Bolton on the wings, and Dougal Nicholls at fullback.

However a strong, young, fit and physical Alchester took the pitch, competing at every breakdown, the forward carried the ball well, forcing Chiltern to defend for large parts of this match, in fact Chiltern spent most of first 15 minutes in their own 22. However strong and resolute defending eventually won the day, and Alchester's efforts to penetrate were resisted, eventually Chiltern managed to get some ball, and push back up the pitch, and then somewhat against the run of play, quick ball on the edge of the opposition 22, moved smartly across the backs, saw Tim Bond break through the defence to score under the posts, unfortunately the conversion was missed which proved costly later in the game. A tough competitive first half finished with Chiltern just ahead 5-0.

Half-time saw a number of substitutes, with Alan Simmons moving to hooker replacing Rob Long and Julian Alexander coming on tight head, Mark Underwood replacing Richard Bobbett in the second row, Scot Fineman replacing Chips as flanker, and Andy Ireland replacing Dougal Nicholls at 15. However the game continued much as the first half, with large phases of play dominated by the Alchester pack driving diligently up the pitch, but Chiltern continued to defend heroically, and taking good lineout ball, managed to get a driving maul moving into the 22 and Ryan Lee broke off the back to score in the corner, yet again unconverted so the score was 10-0. As Chiltern started to tire the Alchester pack managed to drive one over the line out wide, also unconverted to bring the score back to 10-5, unfortunately this was quickly followed by a second under the posts making the score 10-12 to Alchester. Chiltern didn't give up and came back in the last 10 minutes this time forcing Alchester to show their defensive skills, which were good enough to see full time and a win to Alchester.

Both teams deserved something from this game, a well fought contest, referred by Peter Dickinson in usual confident style. Man of the match for Chiltern was lock Dave Robertson - 'Pencil' for his excellent lineout work, defensive tackling and strong ball carrying. We look forward to hosting Alchester again in the near future, and wish them every good fortune in the future.

Next week, sees the return of Vets rugby, with a trip to Ruislip and a welcome rest from the league, the 3s return on 29th November with a visit to Winslow.

Team
1 Holmes, 2 Long, 3 Simmons, 4 Robertson, 5 Bobbett, 6 Lawson, 7 Turner, 8 Lee, 9 Reynolds, 10 Thomas, 11 Shepherd, 12 Bond, 13 Richardson D, 14 Bolton, 15 Nicholls, 16 Alexander sub'd Long, 17 Underwood sub'd Bobbett, 18 Fineman sub'd Lawson

Richard Bobbett 15.11.08