Ross Bugden gives Chiltern a scare

On a day when Chiltern 4XV was playing Hertford, a match which two seasons ago resulted in an 18 year old Hertford second row breaking his neck and is now in a wheelchair, Chiltern fly half Ross Bugden went to ground with a neck injury. However, quick thinking by the referee stabilised his head and avoided any movement until the paramedics arrived. Fortunately, the news late Saturday evening was that the x-ray and scan were clear and he was sent home. On the pitch the match was completed on an adjacent pitch with Chiltern securing an impressive 36-11 win and a four try bonus point.

The first half was a hard fought affair with Chiltern picking up an early penalty kicked by Ross Bugden. After 15 minutes Chiltern were 6-0 up with a second penalty taken by Bugden, but Chippenham responded with a penalty in the 20th minute. The first major incident occurred in the 25th minute when Tim Lloyd broke down the left wing and his inside pass to Rhys Keith was deliberately knocked down by an opponent, who was given a yellow card. The referee resisted the temptation to award a penalty try and unfortunately Bugden missed the resulting penalty kick, then quickly missed another penalty. Chippenham had the opportunity to draw level with a long range effort, but was pulled left, so the half time score was 6-3.

Seven minutes into the second half Chippenham drew level with another penalty. This seemed to spur Chiltern into action. Blayne Underwood completed several phases of play going over for the first try in the right hand corner; Bugden missed the conversion but quickly picked up another penalty. Chiltern emptied their bench with Danny Samuels replacing George Bartlett, James Schofield replacing Garrett Daman-Cann, and injury to Underwood resulted in Rhys Keith moving to right wing and Craig Burgess coming on as replacement scrum half. 20 minutes into the second half Steve Scopes broke through midfield and set up number 8 Gareth Wherle for his first try for the club and the first try of the season by a forward; converted by Bugden. Left wing Tim Lloyd broke clear on the left wing to score the third try, making the score 26-6. Then the game was stopped for over 20 minutes following injury to fly half Ross Bugden, who fielded a loose ball and fell awkwardly on his neck with an opponent on top of him.

With Chiltern 3XV completing a 45-0 victory over league rivals Drifters, the First XV match continued on the pitch they vacated as paramedics continued to treat Bugden. Chiltern restarted the match determined to make their injured teammate proud, and quickly secured the fourth try bonus point when Tim Lloyd went clear down the left wing and found a pass inside to Steve Scopes to score. Minutes later hooker Paddy Esson completed a forwards move scoring in the right hand corner. Pushing for a sixth try, a long wide pass was intercepted by Chippenham to run 70 metres to score under the posts; final score 36-11.

Elsewhere, Chiltern teams completed a full house, the 2XV winning 24-49 at Henley and the 4XV beat Hertford 32-14, with one of their tries being scored by number 8 Charlie Kent, whose photo from the inaugural 1973 Mini Under 10s team featured in the Tournament match day programme celebrating 40 years since Mini Rugby was introduced at Chiltern.

Match report by Richard Bobbett