3xv beat a resilient Reading Abbey

Firstly its worth mentioning full credit to Reading Abbey as a club for their pitches which were in fine condition considering the weather we have had over the last few weeks.

Chiltern knew a tough game was in store away from home and so it proved.

From the start it was noticeable that the Chiltern scrum had the edge and this set the platform for their attack throughout the game.
An early disallowed try for Tom Blackburn gave Chiltern an attacking scrum 5 metres out. They drove Reading Abbey back and Jack Claridge picked up to score the first try of the day. Josh Davies converted

In a physical first half there was wasn't much between the teams and Reading Abbey scored from a driving maul. They missed the conversion

Just before half time Chiltern thought they had scored in the corner after some fine passing but the final pass to Jack Freeman was deemed forward by the referee.

A tight first half ended with only 2 points between the teams.

HT 7-5

Six tries in an entertaining second half saw Chiltern score four and secure the bonus point.

The first three tries were scored by Chiltern; the first a great line from Josh Davies set up a try for Jamie Fenton, the second a penalty try after constant pressure on the Reading Abbey scrum and the third a very good finish from Michael Brothers to score under the posts. All three tries converted by Josh Davies

Reading Abbey fought straight back and a nice chip from their fly half who then passed off to their supporting player to score. The pass was arguably forward but the referee gave it regardless. The conversion was missed

Two more tries with Reading Abbey having the final word. The first was a brilliant individual try from Michael Brothers who picked the ball up on his 22 and chipped over the defence to collect his own kick, beat the full back and score under the posts. Josh Davies converted

The last try was a rolling maul from Reading Abbey and they peeled off to score in the corner. The conversion was missed

A tough match which at half time could have gone either way. Credit to both teams

FT 35-17

Next week Chiltern travel away to Drifters.

Line up:
1 Lewis Godfrey 2 Edd Hedley 3 Harvey Gould 4 Luke Donnebaum (c) 5 Colm Gilhooly (pl) 6 Jack Claridge 7 Chris Brown 8 Tom Blackburn 9 Phil John 10 Jamie Fenton 11 Jack Freeman 12 Ally Davidson 13 Josh Davies (vc) 14 Anthony Page 15 Liam Gilhooly 16 Adam Cook 17 Richard Gazzard 18 Michael Brothers

Tries:
Michael Brothers x2
Jamie Fenton
Jack Claridge
Penalty Try

Conversions:
Josh Davies x5

Man of the Match:
Jack Claridge