ROSSLYN PARK 21-48 CHINNOR
SATURDAY 7TH OCTOBER
By RHYS STRATTON
The 1st XV fell to defeat at The Rock as Chinnor continued their impressive start to the season.
The visitors got out to a fast start as they punished a loose clearance with Kieran Goss crossing over in the corner before minutes later hoofing a kick in behind off a turnover which almost ran dead before being touched down by Will Feeney at the back of the dead ball area. Charlie Carter then got in on the scoring as the scrum-half dived over following a George Merrick offload to take the lead to 19 points.
A few minutes after Carter crossed over, Park answered back with a much-needed score through Charlie Piper. Just seconds earlier, a Walker try had been scrubbed off as the linesman and referee, after a period of deliberation, determined the winger to have spilt the ball over the line. Park weren’t to be denied, though, and carried back deep into the opposition 22 following the goal line dropout, with Piper eventually crashing over. Unfortunately, the visitors wrestled momentum back in the midst of another dangerous Park attack when Feeney scooped up a pass that had gone to ground and ran it in from over 50m out.
In the second half, Park narrowed the lead through Marfo as the decision was made to throw 13 men into a driving maul which quickly gathered speed and rumbled over the Chinnor line, resulting in a try from the back of the maul for the winger. James Bourton again made it a 3-score game as he slotted a penalty and the visitors regained the momentum once more.
Henry Spencer was shown yellow as he was deemed to have collapsed a maul and Chinnor punished the infringement when Will McNulty touched down from the lineout. Park were further reduced to 13 when Jordan Martin was sent to the bin for arguing over the last in a succession of 50-50 penalties that had been called in favour of the visitors. Chinnor clinically took advantage once more, this time through George Stokes. Sunni Jardine managed to reel in a late interception as he shot out of the line with great anticipation and outpaced the Chinnor cover to score under the posts, but unfortunately, with time winding down, the visitors dotted down one final time as Carter completed his brace.
Referee: Owen Taylor
ROSSLYN PARK
Tries: Piper (24’), Marfo (52’), Jardine (74’)
Conversions: Wilstead (25’, 53’, 75’)
Penalties: N/A
Yellow Cards: Spencer (66’), Martin (70’)
Team: Wade, Piper, Hay, Martin, Burton, Bolwell, Ellis, Wrafter, Baldwin, Wilstead, Marfo, Gordon, Kelly, Walker, Trimble
Replacements: Cameron, Cade, Spencer, Jardine, Stanton
CHINNOR
Tries: Goss (5’), Feeney (9’, 32’), James-Carter (19’, 77’), McNulty (67’), Stokes (72’)
Conversions: Bourton (6’, 20’, 33’, 68’, 73’)
Penalties: Bourton (56’)
Yellow Cards: Gillespie (24’)
Team: Woodward, Walker, Hardwick, Merrick, Brockschmidt, North, Clementson, Stokes, James-Carter, Smith, Goss, Bourton, Passman, Gillespie, Feeney
Replacements: Darlington, McNulty, Ryan, Wharton, Taylor
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Birmingham Moseley 25 – 18 Leicester Lions
Blackheath 52 – 12 Cinderford
Plymouth Albion 36 – 10 Sale FC
Rams 26 – 10 Bishop’s Stortford
Richmond 24 – 34 Darlington Mowden Park
Sedgley Park 32 – 28 Taunton Titans
This weekend’s fixtures saw Sedgley Park, Rams, Plymouth Albion and Blackheath all pick up bonus point wins at home, with the latter continuing their excellent start to life back in National One as they thrashed Cinderford by a margin of 40-points. Birmingham Moseley also emerged victorious from their home match against Leicester Lions but failed to add a bonus point. Elsewhere, DMP turned over Richmond at The RAG in impressive fashion for a big bonus point win.
Up Next for Park is a trip to Taunton to take on the 12th placed Titans who have yet to record a win this season.