Sat 10 Oct 2009
Chinnor 28 Weston-super-Mare 17
THERE was little doubt that Chinnor was the better team at Thame on Saturday but the Seasiders can count themselves unlucky at not being rewarded with at least one bonus point, and probably two.
Once again, their ongoing injury jinx struck, this time before the match. Late withdrawals by James Mackay and Kirk Middlemiss resulted in a major restructure of the back division. Neil Trevena went from scrum-half to full-back, Chris Young from No 15 to No 10, Josh Mortimore from the bench to scrum-half and a debut for 21-year-old former Colts centre Jonathan Filer; and things did not start well.
Within three minutes the hosts, with the wind and sun in their favour, were ahead with an unconverted try by Alex Wallace, and after half an hour their points advantage had increased to 11 following two penalties from James Cathcart.
There had been good work in defence, including try-saving tackles by wings James Arnold and Paul Sprague and just before the break Weston responded.
Chinnor attacked strongly at the start of the second half and Fry was again in action with a crucial tackle on hooker Simon Tattersall, but the Seasiders hit back again on 55 minutes.
Young's long kick was chased well by the speedy Arnold, forcing Chinnor to minor, and from the resultant five-metre scrum, Fry celebrated his 21st birthday with the score that took the visitors into a 12-11 lead.
In the meantime, however, Andrew Richards had been harshly dealt a yellow card and two tries in as many minutes from Chinnor wing Philip Seymour and a converted score from Tom Pickett put the hosts back in charge.
They pounded the home line incessantly forcing Chinnor to drag down two driving mauls and collapse a brace of scrums within five metres of their own line.
After the first two offences at which penalties were given, Weston could have expected a penalty try, or at least a warning to the hosts, but Devon referee Brian Barclay, having penalised Richards earlier, completely failed his consistency test.
Weston: N Trevena, J Arnold, J Filer, H Warman, P Sprague, C Young, J Mortimore, D Price (J Gallagher 80), D Burge (c), S Williams, A Richards (sin bin 49), M Kempton (G Wright 72), E Smith (A Russell 52), D Fry, G Sparks.
