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Sat 01 Nov 2014 · National League 3 London & SE
First XVWestcombe Park
20
33
Huge improvement sees Chiltern edged out by league leaders
Tony Coyle4 Nov 2014 - 05:58
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After the bizarre match last week, Chiltern put in a much improved performance against a side that had only lost once in eight matches.
Despite early pressure from Chiltern, a dropped pass saw Westcombe Park run the ball back at Chiltern at speed, forcing Chiltern to concede a penalty which Westcombe kicked. Unlike last week there was a calmer attitude in the Chiltern ranks and some excellent support play was evident with Chiltern’s back row prominent and the scrum far more stable than recently.
Some clever interpassing around half way saw scrum half Teddy Reus slip a quick ball to James Carty on the blind side who skipped past his wing and delivered a lovely pass inside to the outstanding Rhys Keith who ran in the try from 40 metres. Regrettably the conversion was missed.
Looking to build on this play Chiltern fell back into their recent habit of turning over decent ball when in attacking positions. Against weaker sides they might get away with this but WP are not league leaders for nothing and they took full advantage to build pressure on Chiltern and kicked a second penalty to put them back into the lead.
Nevertheless Chiltern’s defence was positive and on 35 minutes WP conceded a penalty themselves which Dan Wood kicked to reduce the lead to 8-11. Chiltern however couldn’t capitalise on the pressure they created and too often lost the ball in contact. As the half wore on a crucial incident occurred as, disappointingly, the referee missed a massive knock on by Westcombe Park who gleefully took advantage to press Chiltern who were then adjudged to have offended despite a WP player lying on the wrong side of the ball as the first offence. A kick to the corner and a forwards try for WP and a yellow card for Tony Machedo!
Another penalty soon followed and from the resulting play Chiltern again fell foul of another marginal decision and a second yellow card this time against Ross Bugden. Chiltern defended stoutly but the lack of numbers finally told and a well worked try saw WP extend their lead at half time to 8-18.
Worse was to come early in the second half when a good WP backs movement and a missed tackle gave WP a try in the corner, 8-23 and a further penalty made it 8-26. This really seemed to galvanise Chiltern who finally took the game to WP, retaining possession better with a series of forward drives leading to an excellent second try for Rhys Keith well converted by Dan Wood.
Chiltern continued to press and WP were suddenly hanging on and it was no surprise when the Chiltern forwards took a good line out ball and drove over the line for an unconverted try by Tony Machedo - so, 20-26 and all to play for.
Chiltern continue to press and only some desperate tackling by WP kept them out. With time running out Chiltern very nearly created the overlap with the try line waiting but the final pass was intercepted and WP ran in their own try under the posts for a 20-33 win which was flattering to WP to say the least.
There were numerous good performances from Chiltern players and their attitude and spirit bodes well for easier games to come.
Match report by Charles Owen-Conway
Some clever interpassing around half way saw scrum half Teddy Reus slip a quick ball to James Carty on the blind side who skipped past his wing and delivered a lovely pass inside to the outstanding Rhys Keith who ran in the try from 40 metres. Regrettably the conversion was missed.
Looking to build on this play Chiltern fell back into their recent habit of turning over decent ball when in attacking positions. Against weaker sides they might get away with this but WP are not league leaders for nothing and they took full advantage to build pressure on Chiltern and kicked a second penalty to put them back into the lead.
Nevertheless Chiltern’s defence was positive and on 35 minutes WP conceded a penalty themselves which Dan Wood kicked to reduce the lead to 8-11. Chiltern however couldn’t capitalise on the pressure they created and too often lost the ball in contact. As the half wore on a crucial incident occurred as, disappointingly, the referee missed a massive knock on by Westcombe Park who gleefully took advantage to press Chiltern who were then adjudged to have offended despite a WP player lying on the wrong side of the ball as the first offence. A kick to the corner and a forwards try for WP and a yellow card for Tony Machedo!
Another penalty soon followed and from the resulting play Chiltern again fell foul of another marginal decision and a second yellow card this time against Ross Bugden. Chiltern defended stoutly but the lack of numbers finally told and a well worked try saw WP extend their lead at half time to 8-18.
Worse was to come early in the second half when a good WP backs movement and a missed tackle gave WP a try in the corner, 8-23 and a further penalty made it 8-26. This really seemed to galvanise Chiltern who finally took the game to WP, retaining possession better with a series of forward drives leading to an excellent second try for Rhys Keith well converted by Dan Wood.
Chiltern continued to press and WP were suddenly hanging on and it was no surprise when the Chiltern forwards took a good line out ball and drove over the line for an unconverted try by Tony Machedo - so, 20-26 and all to play for.
Chiltern continue to press and only some desperate tackling by WP kept them out. With time running out Chiltern very nearly created the overlap with the try line waiting but the final pass was intercepted and WP ran in their own try under the posts for a 20-33 win which was flattering to WP to say the least.
There were numerous good performances from Chiltern players and their attitude and spirit bodes well for easier games to come.
Match report by Charles Owen-Conway
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