True Grit

A fantastic, committed performance from Chiltern brought a narrow victory at Weedon Lane against a very strong and well organised CS Rugby team. Like Chiltern, they were relegated into London 1 North last season and have recruited heavily in the summer to push for automatic promotion back into the National Leagues.

An early try out wide for the visitors brought the best from Chiltern in reply. Strong runs from fly half Joe Butler and wing George Wood took the home side deep into the CS Rugby 22, and after a rock solid scrum Philip Blake made great space with a deft pass for Aaron Doyle to slice through under the posts for a touch down, which Andy Fluker converted.

Chiltern coped admirably with the twin loss of skipper Tom Grammenos to concussion and Jonny Hughes after just 12 minutes and later also lost prop Ziana Alexis to a very bloody head wound requiring stitches.

Two penalties from CS Rugby’s very impressive fly half and a reply from Andy Fluker gave the visitors a narrow 10-11 lead at half time.

Chiltern continued their impressive ball retention into the second half, locks Ollie Cato and Antonio Machado making hard yards and half back Joe Butler intelligently mixing the play to keep Chiltern moving forward. Two penalties against the run of play from CS Rugby stretched their lead to 10-17 midway through the second half; but the home side retaliated with Aaron Doyle claiming his second try out wide, which Andy Fluker converted to tie the score at 17-17.

Yet again this season, forwards Joe Winpenny and Andy Zair led the home team by example and we were rewarded with a great run in from debutant prop Tom Handford, sprinting over from 25 metres out under the posts for a score, converted by Andy Fluker for a 24-17 lead which typified the home side’s resilience and character.

Despite a late score from CS Rugby to bring the game back into the balance, a missed conversion from them saw Chiltern record a very hard fought victory. Forwards coaches Jason Bowers and Peter Gibson will be delighted with how the scrum platform is giving us control and opportunity behind. Lewis Edwards at tight head was immense and hooker Patrick Esson, deputising for the injured Zane Turner, showed we have strength in depth in all positions in the pack.

There are very encouraging signs that Chiltern are moulding a good young squad with many home grown players into a formidable team. The wise heads of Grammenos, Zair, Jack and Winpenny, under Head Coach Richie Williams, are having real influence on and off the pitch.

Match report by Spike Stevens