2 MATCH REPORTS: A&C 1XV v Fullerians 16th December 2023 & v Old Habs 6th January 2024

Our pre-Christmas cracker on the fields of Sham. Always a warm welcome provided to our friends from Fullerians and delighted to welcome the great and the good to our now famous sup-porters’ lunch. With plenty of chat and lashings of festive ale we all looked forward to the big day and most importantly the big match.

With a highly rated young and ambitious referee from London being drafted in we were all confi-dent that a hard fought, competitive, and compelling match would result. Fullerians have tradi-tionally fought hard for victory, but this season find themselves at the bottom of the league and were still licking their wounds from a significant home defeat earlier in the season as the Chiltern travelled impressively to secure the bonus point win by half time (15 - 41)

This time, Chiltern established momentum early on until easily pulling away for a well-deserved win.

Keiran Booth scored the opening try, converted by Monty Weatherall, welcomed back to the club (stand-off) from his travels in Canada. Jordan Scott (No8) then scored try number 2 again duly converted by Monty. In the 2nd half Charlie Swerling tip-toed over with winger James Lewis soon adding another with a zippy finish. Jordan then added another with James Lewis again slip-ping through a tired defense. Both converted by Monty prior to Chris Joyce (Hooker) joining in with a brace of tries resulting with a big smile on his face.

Team:

1.Doug McGregor-Smith
2. Chris Joyce
3. Charlie Swerling
4. Keiran Booth
5. Harry Bradshaw
6. Dave Francis
7. Josh Finch
8. Jordan Scott
9. Alex Bower
10. Monty Weatherall
11. James lewis
12. Noah Jarvis
13. Lloyd Anderson
14. MacKenzie South
15. Ben Pothecary
16. Joe Batt
17. Jack Gurney
18. James Morrison

Amazingly this was a match (top of the table v 8th place) that survived the winter storms as the buildup was dampened with deluge after deluge day in day out.

Traditionally the old Hab Dabs are said to enjoy their pitches moist and certainly in the past Chiltern have lost their footing on the soft Croxdale Road Fields. Chiltern had enjoyed a convincing 57-6 home win previously and with Old Habs undoubtedly licking their lips at the weather we travelled daring some cautious optimism.

The home support had been rallied and had feasted prior to kick off. With cheer leaders in place and a pitch deceptively firm with no sign of a single goose and the club house fire place glowing battle commenced. With a nervy start it wasn’t long until Chiltern settled into the game and with their confidence building, they ensured a bonus point win although always concerns regarding the 3 tries conceded.

Tom Fawssett penalty (0-3). Try from Jordan Scott, a driving maul and conversion by Tom (0-10). Another Jordan Scott try with a driving maul (0-15) and then half time.

An Old Habs try (5 - 15) and then another Jordan Scott converted try in response (5-22) with a tap and go 5 metres out. Old Habs sneak in another try to keep things interesting (10-22).

Ben Pothecary then cut through for another converted try (10-29) and bonus point secured. The Jordan Scott & Tom Fawssett show continued with another converted try (10-36) Jordan finishing and Alex Bower snipe. A hat-trick of tries then achieved by old Habs (15-36) prior to a Joe Batt special to finish matters off. A great day and fantastic hosts as always.

Team:

1. Doug McGregor-Smith
2. Joe Batt
3. Charlie Swerling
4. Harry Bradshaw
5. Jacques O’Driscoll
6. Jack Gurney
7. Josh Finch
8. Jordan Scott
9. Alex Bower
10. Ben Pothecary
11. James Lewis
12. Aaron Lewis
13. Lloyd Anderson
14. MacKenzie South
15. Tom Fawssett
16. Harry Pollard
17. Warwick South
18. Noah Jarvis