Excellent run out for the whole squad

Having enjoyed an excellent pre-season build up, Chiltern took a squad of 30 players to Fullerians, Watford. Our opponents won their league last year and have been promoted into London 1 North, which is the same league that Chiltern won last season.

Ex-Chiltern player and coach Dave Neale is looking after the Fullerians backs and the game proved useful to both sides as they looked to get rid of the cobwebs of the summer.

Although Chiltern were missing about six first choice players it was good to see some of the new recruits in action as well as some returning players who most definitely staked claims for starting slots when the league campaign opens in September.

On a warm, sunny day Chiltern were quickly into their stride in both attack and defence and their fitness levels made life difficult for Fullerians. The new half back combination of Mike Macdonald and Andy Fluker worked smoothly and opened gaps on a regular basis. The Chiltern centres Pip Blake and Jonny Hughes were too strong for Fullerians and solid running and support brought three tries in the first of three 25 minute sessions. The forwards were going well and the support play was pretty good for a first outing. A strong run by wing Dave John opened up the defence for the first try and a searing break by Chris Jack and an inside pass put Pip Blake over under the posts for the second.

Wholesale changes for the second session meant that it was a while before some continuity started to flow but with Gareth Wehrle leading the way, Fullerians were struggling to stay in touch. Excellent tries by live wire Dom Rice and two from Josh Davies saw Chiltern extend their lead before some dozy work at a scrum led to a penalty try for Fullerians. Our opponents were struggling fitness wise but never stopped trying and after a couple of penalties their 10 scored their second try which went unconverted but left the score at 12-31 at the end of the second period.

More changes, the warm weather and regular rotation meant the third period was less fluent but Chiltern scored another couple of tries taking the score to 12-45 and to round off a very useful warm up match.

Coach Richie Williams was pleased with the overall display but is under no illusion that the opposition will be significantly stronger next week when we play Broadstreet (Birmingham) at home. Broadstreet were relegated from National 2 at the end of last year so will be playing at the same level as Chiltern going forward. The game is at home and kicks off at 3pm, so please come and watch the team as they continue their warm up matches.