Rugby: Chinnor's pack too strong for holders

From the archive, first published Tuesday 9th Mar 2004.

Chinnor 19, Henley Alliance 7: A commanding display from prop forward Simon Matthews and some strong place-kicking by James Cathcart helped Chinnor knock out holders Henley out of the Oxfordshire Cup in a fiercely contested semi-final at Kingsey Road.

Chinnor, beaten by Henley's second string at the same stage of last season's tournament, will now meet fellow South West 1 club Oxford Harlequins in the final at Iffley Road on Sunday, March 28.

With former Henley player Matthews to the fore, the home front five dominated the scrums and held sway in the rucks and mauls.

Henley's speedy backs often threatened, but the sturdy Chinnor defence was only breached once.

The hard work of the home pack was turned into points by the howitzer boot of Cathcart.

He kicked four penalties in the first half and took his tally to 14 points with the straightforward conversion of a penalty try in the second.

The game started well for Henley, who took the lead when fly half Spike Chandler went on an arcing run at pace to go round the Chinnor defence for a try he converted.

After 20 minutes Cathcart started to accumulate his penalties and scored four at regular intervals before the break.

Chinnor, in their first home cup-tie for six years lay seige to the Henley line for fully ten minutes immediateley before the interval.

But heroic defence, including a try-saving tackle by scrum half Liam Smye on Darren Oxley, kept them at bay

The crucial score in the match came five minutes into the second period, when a poor clearance led to a seige on their line.

This resulted in the award of a penalty try to Chinnor as Henley flanker James Street deliberately kicked the ball through from an off-side position.

From thereon, the game was played almost entirely in the Chinnor half, but the visitors were unable to outwit a defence in which flanker David Seymour and his backrow colleague Tom Johnson.

Nevertheless, one Henley handling move involving forwards and backs covering 40 metres was only stopped a few metres out as Sean Hardy went for the line.

The contest, between Chinnor's ten-man game and Henley's speedy backs, was won by the side that controlled possession.and for all their ability to run the ball the Alliance did not have enough possession to patiently build a winning score.

Chinnor: D Oxley, J Hewitt, J Brooks (L Westerman), T Wood, S McIvor, J Cathcart, G Phillips, S Matthews (capt), T Whelan, J Winpenny (F Forster), M Hutchinson, , A Milburn, T Johnson, D Seymour, A Du Toit Serdyn.

Henley Alliance: S McLoughlin, O Quin, S Jaggessar, J Hirst, G Turner (D Knight), S Chandler, L Smye, S Robinson, I Gibbons (T Nicholas), D Shiels (R Fuller), B Glossop (capt), J McUtchen, S Hardy, J Street (J Lake), M Harding.

Referee: B Bumpass (Oxon).

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