5 Golden Points , 4 Debutants, 3 Hand-offs, 2 Covid Jabs and a Party to celebrate the win !

Match Report by Ed Wainwright

The Met Line derby. The Zone 9 derby. Chesham v Amersham. The “noisy neighbours” against the Bucks stalwarts, a game where club legends are made, Stag-do’s are ruined & Saturday didn’t disappoint.

Despite all the uncertainty with Omicron & fixtures falling by the wayside, “I can confirm a rugby party absolutely did take place at Chesham Stags rugby club,” despite government officials suggesting otherwise. A game for the rugby purists & huge credit must go to Doug, Gibo, Crimpo & Chesham Stags for the game going ahead despite the uncertainty and ensuring the game was played in the safest environment possible with all players returning negative lateral flows & increased social distancing procedures adopted.

Anyone who saw the Chiltern team sheet would have been excited. Fathers, sons, brothers, returning comrades from university. This ensured a large but socially distanced crowd with multiple club legends past & present cheering the lads on.

The game got off to a flying start. The unflappable Stef Treloar covering the back field like a gazelle and sent up “a huge Gary Owen.” The Chesham defence parted like the Red Sea allowing the talented Harvey Wilson to gather the ball & show great pace to get over the line. In a somewhat recurring theme….the conversion was missed. 0-5 to Chiltern.

Attack, attack, attack was the order of the day. And the expecting crowd were not disappointed to see Chiltern extend their lead moments later when Alex Bower raced through from the halfway line. Showing the effectiveness of his personal fitness regime, Mr Bower couldn’t summon the energy to add the extras, passing the honour to Ben Rooke who nonchalantly converted for a 0-12 lead to Chiltern.

The Chesham “Stag-do” was well & truly being ruined & not content with their lead, Chiltern really began to exert their authority on the game. After a series of carries from the forwards, the backs spun the ball wide at pace, leaving Will Swerling in space on the left flank. Showing great strength & speed, Swerling cut in from the left & ran in from the half-way line. Converting his own Try, Chiltern now had a commanding lead. 0-19.

Could Chiltern get the 4th try before half time….they certainly could & what a try it was. Showing the pace & stamina he clearly didn’t get from his father, Rob Treloar embarked on a mazey run from inside his own half. Stepping inside 2, handing off 1 & outpacing 2, Rob scored the try of the game, dotting down in the corner. Chiltern had now built what looked to be an insurmountable lead inside 30mins. 0-24

Showing great spirt, Chesham didn’t Stag-nate, fighting back courageously, aided by some frankly average Chiltern play. Firstly, Edd Hedley showcasing the ability we are so used to seeing any England footballer from the penalty spot in the knockout stages of a competition, opted not run the ball into contact & instead shank the ball with his right boot straight back to Chesham Stags. Compounding this error, Charlie Swerling, determined to show his worth returning to Chiltern, was boshed back over the line. 5-24 Chiltern Lead.

Rattled at having conceded a soft try, the spritely Chiltern bounced back in style. After a sequence of forward carries, Alex Bower launched a delightful miss pass to Will Swerling on the left wing who finished with aplomb. Conversion…..missed. 5-29 to Chiltern & half-time was called.

In the second half, Chesham Stags came out fighting. A clear change of tactics saw Stags launch wave after wave of forward carries clearly wary of the threat Chiltern carried out wide. Despite some relentless defence & heroic efforts having been repelled over the line on a couple of occasions, Chesham Stags deservedly crossed the whitewash. 10-29 Chiltern led & this soon became 15-29 when similar tactics led to another Chesham Stags try which went unconverted.

Any thoughts of a comeback were soon dampened when Chiltern scored a beauty. Replacement scrumhalf Vas Chirita breaking from a scrum, passing to the man with the Ginger mullet James Morrison on a hard line proving you can play on broken wings racing through to score. “Oh the truth hurts,” but sadly, his conversion was struck with a similar authority to Edd Hedley’s punt, landing woefully short of the posts. 15-34 to Chiltern

Time was running out, but there was still enough remaining for a good old Met Line scrap. The “very, very angry” Charlie Swerling proving even less effective in a fight than he was in the retreating scrums, found himself pinned to the floor. A full 30-man brawl ensued, but not before the referee resumed control & managed the game well for the remainder of the game with Chiltern running out worthy winners by a score line of 34-15.

The 5 points were much needed to continue the 3XV title challenge & thoroughly deserved by this exciting Chiltern side which had an excellent blend of young & old. The win now keeps the 3s closely on the tails of Berkhamsted who remain unbeaten as we head into the festive break.

Regardless of the outcome, Saturday was a great day for the club. A difficult situation, managed extremely well by both sides & a timely reminder of the value of rugby to huge numbers of people, both players & supporters in these testing times. Massive thanks must be extended to Chesham Stags for their commitment to playing the fixture & the referee who oversaw proceedings extremely well.

What the New Year holds, we will have to wait & see, but the club continues to go from strength to strength regularly getting 3 teams out, with not a single match postponed due to availability this year. Here’s to there being minimal disruption to the rugby calendar in the New Year, but more importantly to everyone having a great Christmas with their families & a very happy New Year.