Tough pre season opener

Amersham & Chiltern 3xv opened the new season with a tough opening pre season fixture against a well drilled Old Albanians 3xv.

OAs started well and were quick to put pressure on the Chiltern attack resulting in two early scores in the opening 10 minutes.
The first try was a clever chip from the OAs fly half seeing the space behind the backline and the OAs centre raced through to touch down under the posts, converted. The second try came from a loose pass in the Chiltern backs and again their centre was able to pick up and run through, converted to make the score 14-0.

Chiltern woke up and started to play some good phases to work their way up into the OAs half. Good set piece ball allowed Tom Smalley to find space behind the centres and put Ryan Greenstreet away in the corner, conversion was missed to make the score 14-5.

From the resulting kick off, good pressure from OAs forced another loose pass and allowed them to run through and score under the posts, converted 21-5.

Chiltern responded well and regardless of the score kept playing good rugby in the OAs 22 which resulted in a try which was disallowed deemed to be a forward pass. A real shame not to take points after 10 minutes of pressure in the OAs half.

Just before half time OAs were awarded a penalty which was converted.

HT 5-24

Ted Reus & Michael Buckler came on at half time and James Riley moved to fly half.
Good work from Ryan Cole & James Riley put Steve Wiggill away for his first try of the game and got Chiltern back into the match, conversion missed 24-10.

Like the end of the first half most of the second half was played in OAs 22 and after they cleared their lines it was from a Chiltern counter attack that allowed an interception for OAs to extend their lead further to 29-10.

There was time for a third Chiltern score after good pressure and a powerful finish from the impressive Steve Wiggill to make the final score 29-15.

FT 15-29

A frustrating result as 3 of OAs tries came from Chiltern errors but lots of positives to build on and great to have two of our Academy players starting their first senior games of rugby, Aidan Lever & Ryan Greenstreet.

Next week Chiltern face another tough match against local rivals Beaconsfield 2xv.

Line up:
1 Lewis Godfrey 2 Ryan Cole (vc) 3 Paddy Esson 4 Chris Coldwell 5 Tom Collins 6 Aidan Lever 7 Jonny Keen (pl) 8 Josh Porter 9 Michael Brothers 10 Tom Smalley 11 James Riley 12 Lewis Culverhouse (c) 13 Steve Wiggill 14 Tristan Lothian 15 Ryan Greenstreet 16 Michael Buckler 17 Ted Reus 18 Tom Fletcher

Tries:
Ryan Greenstreet, Steve Wiggill x 2

Man of the Match:
Steve Wiggill