2s off the mark

With three of Chiltern’s four senior sides playing at Fortress Weedon Lane and an Oktoberfest social to look forward to in the evening, a picture-perfect blue sky day was the cherry on top of what was sure to be a great day’s rugby. Even though the 1st XV opposition never showed up, for the 2nd XV it could not have gone much better!

Henley 3’s were the opposition to test a strong looking Chiltern side and with the latter yet to pick up a win this season, they had a point to prove in front of a now larger than normal home crowd. After a scrum restart from a poor Henley kick-off, the supporters might have been a tad concerned seeing Chiltern’s hooker and tighthead being lifted off the ground and the pack being driven back strongly. The scrum reset and Chiltern were then penalised for an early engagement, Henley worked their way down into the Chiltern 22 but were well repelled by some strong tackles. The first 10 minutes continued to be an arm wrestle between both sides until Chiltern finally broke the deadlock with a penalty kick after Henley’s defence was too eager off the line.

This seemed to ignite a fire in Chiltern and following some quick hands, Sam Risbridger broke out wide, beating a number of defenders before being tackled in centre field. More good hands from Ted Reus and Johnny Rice fed Iwan Thomas who cut back inside the opposing winger to score the first try of the game. 8 – 0. Jake Cutter producing the only Miss of the day. Chiltern’s second came quickly from the next play. Working to the half way line from kick-off the ball came quickly and was worked to the right where Ross Gladdish and Iwan Thomas combined nicely to switch on the wing with the latter running in his second under the post. Conversion good, 15 – 0 to Chiltern!

Henley then hit back through their forwards and scored a converted try under the posts from a series of quick pick and go carries. This didn’t stop Chiltern and Ross Gladdish picked up the third try after more good hands through the back line. 22 – 7 to Chiltern. A period of scrappy play ensued, with both teams making errors in live play and from the set piece, but Chiltern got their fourth try and the bonus point after good pressure in defence forced a Henley error. Gus Pollard ran the ball within metres of the line before offloading on the floor to Iwan Thomas who completed his hattrick. Just before half-time Chiltern got another after Iwan Thomas got involved again and intercepted a pass to run in his fourth of the game and Chiltern’s fifth!

HT: Chiltern 36-7 Henley

Henley got back on the scoresheet first breaking from their own 22 and managing to score down the left touch line but Chiltern scored again through Jason Kilbey who picked off the back of a scrum and ran powerfully to score from 5 metres out. 43 – 12 to Chilts.

Henley then went down to 14 men due to a no arms tackle and eventually Chiltern got their 7th try after a fantastic line and break by Tala Petelo who offloaded to Sam Risbridger to score under the posts. Again, some loose play from Henley led to another score with Max Dugdale the beneficiary of this, running back against the play and beating the last man with ease. The score was now 57-12 but Chiltern weren’t finished after another break from Tala Petelo again saw him offload to Sam Risbridger to get his second of game.

Straight from the restart Chiltern broke down the right side before a delightful cross field kick from Jake Cutter allowed Gus Pollard to score the 10th try of the game for Chiltern. The game was finished with two more tries from the rampant men in maroon. Iwan Thomas who finished with 5 tries for the game benefited from a strong run from Arnoldas Patskocimas (Arnie), who fed the young kiwi winger to score out wide. The final try was the result of a great turn over from Jason Kilbey and a break from Gus who passed to Jake Cutter to score.

A final score of 78-12 did not flatter Chiltern, in fact a number of great chances went begging that proves this side still has big improvements to make. Next week Chiltern welcome Maidenhead who sit mid table, in what is sure to be a great game!

MOTM - Iwan Thomas