Muddy marvels Chinnor edge in

From the archive, first published Tuesday 28th Mar 2006.

Richard Williams' penalty completed an epic comeback as Chinnor saw off title rivals Weston-super-Mare 11-10.

The match was played in conditions so muddy that the whelks and starfish from Weston's beach would have felt at home.

And it soon became hard to distinguish the two teams.

But Chinnor showed great character to rally from 10-0 down and now need just one more win to seal the title and National League rugby.

Fly half James Reid converted his own try to put Weston 7-0 up after ten minutes, sewing seeds of doubt among the travelling fans.

Reid increased the lead with a penalty, but Chinnor fly half Matt Buckley repeated the trick to reduce the arrears.

A determined run from winger Eric Brown saw him pass inside to Buckley, who fed scrum half Morgan Thompson at pace to score a stunning try, considering the conditions.

The half ended with yellow cards for Weston scrum half Ricky Jones and prop Alex Chase, plus Chinnor flanker Raakai Maxwell and No 8 Paul Hennessy.

Weston changed their kit at the break and Reid missed two kickable penalties as they piled on the pressure.

With Weston still hanging on to their two-point advantage and just eight minutes left, Chinnor replaced Bob Harris with Tom Whelan and Buckley with Williams.

Chinnor were awarded a penalty with four minutes remaining, which Williams stepped up and kicked from 30 metres.

Weston then threw everything at Chinnor in what must have been the longest four minutes of the season.

But they held on with one Weston drive being held-up literally inches short.

Oxford Harlequins conceded two late tries as they lost 20-13 to Basingstoke at Horspath Road.

A strong diagonal cross wind made ball handling tricky for both sides, but Quins soon settled down playing fast expansive rugby.

They opened the scoring in the fifth minute with a well judged penalty by fly half Ben Cottenden.

Cottenden's second penalty doubled their lead on ten minutes.

Good line-out work by No 8 Paddy Soper and second row Alex Dyer gave Quins a steady supply of ball, but a Basingstoke penalty made it 6-3 at the break.

Heavy rain then made conditions slippery before Basingstoke levelled with a 51st-minute penalty.

On 56 minutes, Quins prop Paul DeLange snapped up a loose lineout throw to charge over from ten metres out for a fine opportunist try, which Cottenden converted.

Converted tries after 65 and 70 minutes brought Basingstoke victory when a draw may have been a fairer result.

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