3XV

Amersham & Chiltern 3rd XV Fixtures & Results
Season 2008/09

Date / Match Report	Opposition	Venue	Competition	Result	Pts.  For	Pts. Against
23-Aug-08
30-Aug-08
06-Sep-08
13-Sep-08	Aylesbury III	Home	BB Oxon 2 North	W	65	0
20-Sep-08	Banbury III	Away	BB Oxon 2 North	W	90	5
27-Sep-08
04-Oct-08	Bicester III	Home	BB Oxon 2 North	HWO	-	-
11-Oct-08	Chinnor IV	Away	BB Oxon 2 North	W	44	12
18-Oct-08
25-Oct-08	Chipping Norton II	Home	BB Oxon 2 North	W	52	0
01-Nov-08	High Wycombe III	Away	BB Oxon 2 North	AWO	-	-
01-Nov-08	Marlow Straglers	Home	Friendly	W	22	0
08-Nov-08
15-Nov-08	Stow on the Wold III	Home	BB Oxon 2 North	HWO	-	-
15-Nov-08	Alchester I	Home	Friendly	L	10	12
22-Nov-08
29-Nov-08	Winslow	Away	BB Oxon 2 North
06-Dec-08	Witney IV	Home	BB Oxon 2 North
13-Dec-08
20-Dec-08	Princes Risborough	Home	Friendly
27-Dec-08
03-Jan-09
10-Jan-09	Stow on the Wold III	Away	BB Oxon 2 North
17-Jan-09	Princes Risborough	Away	Friendly
24-Jan-09	High Wycombe III	Home	BB Oxon 2 North
31-Jan-09	Chipping Norton II	Away	BB Oxon 2 North
07-Feb-09
14-Feb-09	Chinnor IV	Home	BB Oxon 2 North
21-Feb-09	Bicester III	Away	BB Oxon 2 North
28-Feb-09	Marlow Straglers	Away	Friendly
07-Mar-09	Banbury III	Home	BB Oxon 2 North
14-Mar-09	Tring III	Home	Friendly
21-Mar-09
28-Mar-09	Aylesbury III	Away	BB Oxon 2 North
04-Apr-09	Witney IV	Away	BB Oxon 2 North
11-Apr-09
18-Apr-09	Winslow	Home	BB Oxon 2 North

       

League:

RFU Bucks/Berks & Oxon 2 North Table


Top Scorers:

Position	Name	Tries	Conversions	Penalties	Drop Goals	Points
1	Russ Bolton	5	6	1	-	40
2	Ryan Lee	5	-	-	-	25
3=	Nik Rastelli	-	10	-	-	20
3=	Chris Luker	4	-	-	-	20
5=	Charlie Kent	3	-	-	-	15
5=	Dave Robertson	3	-	-	-	15
7=	Ed Buller	2	-	-	-	10
7=	Dave Richardson	2	-	-	-	10
7=	Tom Reynolds	2	-	-	-	10
7=	Neil Foster	2	-	-	-	10
7=	Gavin Reid	2	-	-	-	10
7=	Chad Shepherd	2	-	-	-	10
7=	Matt Lawson	2	-	-	-	10
14	Duncan Yarroll	-	3	-	-	6
15=	Richard Bobbett	1	-	-	-	5
15=	Tim Bond	1	-	-	-	5
15=	Graham Fischer	1	-	-	-	5
15=	Nick Fischer	1	-	-	-	5
15=	Simon Turner	1	-	-	-	5
15=	Roshan Ratnapala	1	-	-	-	5
15=	Brian Feaver	1	-	-	-	5
15=	Rob Mowat	1	-	-	-	5
15=	Dave Smith	1	-	-	-	5
15=	Craig Yandell	1	-	-	-	5
15=	Pete Johnson	1	-	-	-	5
15=	Luke Johnson	-	1	1	-	5
15=	Chik	1	-	-	-	5
28	Dougall Nicholls	-	2	-	-	4
29	Charlie Griffiths	-	-	1	-	3

Match Reports:

Win and then loose!

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

All change for the 3's

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

Norton Naught

Chiltern 52-0 Chipping Norton

Chiltern (23) 52
Tries: Bolton 2, Johnson P, Kent, Luker C, Robertson 3
Conversion: Bolton 2, Johnson L
Penalty: Griffiths G, Johnson L

Chipping Norton 0

This saturday the illustrious 3rds took on Chipping Norton at home, Chipping were the only side to beat Chiltern last season, however today they couldn't score, Chiltern put 52 points on the board.

In the first 10 minutes it looked like Chiltern were going to run away with the game, and despite taking an early 8 point lead, a good move across the backs creating a simple run in for Chris Luker after 2 minutes, however some sloppy handling, and determination by Chipping produced a competitive match, but two more tries late on, the first a pick up by number 8 Charlie Kent following a great scrum, and the last try of the half was the first of his hat trick scored by 'Pencil' - Dave Robertson. A conversion dropped kick by Russ Bolton form wide on far touch line, a simple penalty kicked by Charlie Griffiths completed the scoring in the first half. Half time 23 - 0

Three quick tries in second half, in the first nine minutes effectively finished the match off, and then two more at 21 and 24 minutes, made the final score 52 - 0. But it must be mentioned that no further scoring in the last 15 minutes was testimony to dogged performance of Chipping, who despite a series of injuries never gave up, although most of the second half was played with uncontested scrums. Second half scorer's were 2 more for Pencil, 2 for fly half Russ Bolton, who also managed anothe conversion, and one try for Pete Johnson.

Today's teams, in the pack, Chips (Matt Lawson), Rob Long, WIll Howe, second row Pencil (Dave Robertson), and Mike Griffiths, and back row, Simon Turner, the silent assassin (Mike Sandford) and Charlie Kent. Rob Mowatt and Russ Bolton were the half backs, Centres Tim Bond and Chris Luker, on the wing, Pete Johnson and Chad Shepherd, and fullback was Charlie Griffiths. Subs were Richard Bobbett, Andy Ireland, Steve Reitz, Liam Gilhooly and Luke Johnson, all subs were used in the second half.

A special mention must go Jack Claridge who in genuine spirit of third team rugby, helped out the opposition coming on a second half sub, well done Jack. Lastly man of the match, well with three tries it has to be Pencil, and you will be surprised to hear he actually DID buy the mandatory jug after the game!

Chiltern sit on top of the table, as the only unbeaten side in BBO 2N. Next week

Team:
1 Lawson, 2 Long (Capt), 3 Howe, 4 Robertson 5 Griffiths M, 6 Turner, 7 Sanford, 8 Kent, 9 Mowat,10 Bolton, 11 Johnson P, 12 Bond T, 13 Luker C, 14 Shepherd, 15 Griffiths C, 16 Reitz sub'd Sanford, 17 Bobbett sub'd Howe, 18 Ireland sub'd Mowat, 19 Gilhooly sub'd Luker C, 20 Johnson L sub'd Griffiths C

Rich Bobbett 26.10.08

Chinnor don't make it easy for Chiltern 3XV

Chinnor 4XV 12-44 Chiltern 3XV

Chiltern (15) 44
Tries: Bolton 2, Buller, Lee 3, Yandell
Penalties: Bolton
Conversions: Bolton 3

Chinnor (0) 12
Tries: 2
Conversions: 1

Chiltern 3rd XV played their hardest match of the season, coming up against a powerful Chinnor pack that made them scrap for every piece of possession, which made the 7 try 44-12 win all the more satisfying.

Right from the off Chiltern knew they were in a game as the Chinnor side were agressive in attack and defence, so it was fortunate that Chiltern had 7 back row players in the squad, two playing out in the backs. Chiltern often turned their defence in to offense with some strong tackling, including an early bone cruncher from openside Ed Buller on the opposition number 10 that left him nervously looking over his shoulder for the remainder of the game. Early on Chiltern struggled to win clean line-out ball but with the hefty weight of experience in the pack, they used their dominance in the scrum to great affect and their off-load and support play was impressive through-out the game, lead admirably by skipper Rob Long. It was a powerful scrum that setup the first score as number 8 Ryan Lee picked and charged off the back, storming through several tackes for the opening score. Soon after second row Mike Griffiths won an important line-out throw 10 metres from the Chinnor line and despite the new "crazy" ELVs, the pack were able to keep a driving maul up on their feet, ably finished off by the go-go-gadget arm of Craig Yandall appearing from the maul to place the ball over the line.

Going into the second half Chiltern were ahead but by no means clear, though it was not long before they stretched their lead further. Another powerful surge by the forward pack set up quick ball which was spun out wide and a nice show and go by Buller, now having dropped back to play in the centre, saw him coast through to score. A near mirror play minutes later, this time finished off by fly half Russ Bolton, looked like it should have settled the result, but to their credit Chinnor did not give up, responding with two scores of their own.

On the 60th minute, Dave Smith making a surprise start at full back (no one more surprised than him), decided to finally join in the game as he retrieved a long kick, running it back and beating four defenders to set up a great counter attack. More smart interplay amongst the Chiltern forwards followed by a strong burst from winger Duncan Bell setup up Bolton's second try of the game. In the closing minutes of the game two more powerful scores from Lee extended Chiltern's lead and finished off an enjoyable battle of a game.

Team
1 Alexander (sub. Reitz), 2 Long (Capt.), 3 Howe, 4 Griffiths, 5 Yandell, 6 Kent, 7 Buller, 8 Lee, 9 Winson, 10 Bolton, 11 Mowat, 12 Rowland (sub. Turner), 13 Bond, 14 Bell, 15 Smith, 16 Turner, 17 Reitz

Mike Griffiths 18.10.08

14 try Bonanza

Banbury 3XV 5-90 Chiltern 3XV

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 Shephrd, 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 to Simon, 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

Chiltern 3XV have an impressive start to the sesaon

Chiltern 3XV 65-0 Aylesbury 3XV

Chiltern 65
Tries: Luker C 3, Reynolds 2, Lawson, Buller, Ratnapala, Feaver, Mowat, Smith
Conversions: Nicholls 2, Yarroll 3

Aylesbury 0

Chiltern 3s started the new season as they had finished the last playing attractive attacking rugby without forgetting the importance of solid forward play and secured good possession which enabled them to move the ball wide and create space which they exploited. In addition to the experienced campaigners who served them well last season they welcomed back to the Club 4 younger players in scrum half Tom Reynolds, prop Will Howe and back row forwards Dave Smith and Ed Buller, all who will strengthen the 1^st team squad. There were also welcome returns to former 1^st team players Ryan Thomas and Duncan Yarroll and a newcomer to the Club in Simon Turner who is sure to be an asset to the team.

Aylesbury turned up with only 13 players and thanks go to Paul Bowe and Dave Morgan who agreed to change allegiance for the day and played for Aylesbury. Both played well.

Team:
1 Lawson, 2 Long (Capt), 3 Howe, 4 Griffiths, 5 Bourne, 6 Turner, 7 Hughes, 8 Buller, 9 Reynolds, 10 Thomas, 11 Ratnapala, 12 Luker C, 13 Richardson B, 14 Feaver, 15 Yarroll, 16 Mowat (sub'd Feaver), 17 Smith (Turner, Hughes - 20 mins each), 18 Nicholls (sub'd Yarroll), 19 Bowe, 20 Morgan

Stan Griffiths 13.9.08

Results