Chinnor recovered from an early scare to overcome Amersham and Chiltern, recovering from 16-0 down to win 39-16.
Amersham and Chiltern scored the first try of the match in the 40th second of the game. Retaining the ball from the kick off, the visitors moved the ball rapidly to left wing Jerry Rice who dotted down in the corner. With Ross Bugden’s conversion, Amersham were 7-0 up with just one minute on the clock.
Chiltern kept up the pressure on the home side and 10 minutes later scored the first of three penalties from the reliable boot of Bugden. By the half hour, Chinnor were shell shocked and Amersham were 16-0 up. A midfield penalty in the 32nd minute led to a catch and long drive to the line, with Liam Gilbert touching down for Chinnor's first try. With James Cathcart's conversion, Chinnor trailed 7-16 at the interval.
The half time talk galvanised the home side who came out all guns blazing. With the wind at their backs, Chinnor pressed and Rice was given 10 minutes in the sin bin for lying over the ball. The catch and drive from the resultant penalty saw Gilbert again touch down on 48 minutes for Chinnor's second try of the day to reduce the deficit to 16-12.
Cathcart then used the breeze to slot a penalty from halfway to make it 16-15. On 64 minutes, Chinnor pressured a scrum on Chiltern's 22-metre line and a wayward pass was expertly collected by Matt Goode whose arcing run allowed him a simple try under the posts, easily converted by Cathcart to put Chinnor ahead for the first time.
Three minutes later a penalty from Cathcart increased Chinnor's lead to 25-16. A precise crossfield kick from Cathcart was then collected by replacement Ken Prinsloo who sidestepped his marker and slipped a pass inside, the ball moving through several hands to flanker Nick harrison who scored Chinnor's bonus point try between the posts, with Cathcart converting.
A few minutes later, left wing Henry Colver came into midfield looking for work and accelerated on to a short pass to slice through the opposing defence for a score under the posts. Cathcart converted to give a final score in favour of Chinnor of 39-16.
