Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 47 Chinnor 10

The first 11 minutes of the game gave no indication whatsoever as to what lay in store, as Chinnor dominated possession and territory, with controlled power play, testing Stortford's defence to the full. The visitors came close to crossing the try-line a couple of times, but determined tackling held them out and they were eventually happy to settle for 3 points from the tee, after Stortford were penalised at a breakdown. The next 25 minutes, though were dominated by the home team, playing running rugby with increasing confidence , as the half went on. The bigger Chinnor side tackled strongly, but found themselves being stretched more and more by Stortford's expansive rugby and the speed and power of their running in the wide channels. The first try came on 17 minutes, when Nick Hankin outpaced the cover defence to touch down after a telling break and 20 metre run by George Cullen. Tom Banks made an excellent conversion, as he did again 4 minutes later, when multiple, quick phases from the restart saw Rob Duff almost make the line from the right wing, allowing Joss Linney, supporting from the opposite flank to power over through a couple of tacklers. Stortford were now rampant, with forwards and backs hurling themselves forwards, with strong support invariably to hand. The next score, though came from a clever chip kick from Cullen in midfield, with George Keen racing in pursuit to take the ball without breaking stride and the centre had just enough pace to make the line, reaching out at full stretch from the last ditch cover tackle. Ironically, Banks' easiest conversion attempt from under the posts was missed, as Chinnor charged the kick down, but his confidence was clearly not dented, nailing his next effort only 3 minutes later. This followed a great individual try by Linney, who was given room out wide inside his own half and used his power to burst through the first tackle and then his speed to outsprint the chasing defenders. Chinnor seemingly had no answer to Stortford's hard-running game, but the 5th Stortford try that was only another 4 minutes away would surely have punctured any defence. The move started with another great break around halfway by Cullen, who found Linney out wide and took a smart return pass, as the winger was closed down. The rest of the move became a blur, as quick pass followed quick pass, leaving defenders grasping at thin air, finally giving Banks an easy touchdown - can't wait to see the video to enjoy in full a tremendous backs' try! Banks duly converted to stretch his side's lead to 30 points, but all credit to the visitors, who refused to give in and, taking advantage of a couple of Stortford penalties, worked their way into the opposition's red zone. An initial driving maul from a 5 metre lineout was held up, but quick ball from the breakdown saw centre, Greg King crash over under the posts and the conversion by Ben Palmer was the last action of the half.

Stortford quickly reasserted themselves after the restart and it took only 3 minutes for Rob Duff to register the 6th try, taking a perfectly flighted long pass from Cullen without breaking stride to sprint in out wide. Banks again made a good conversion, but this time the floodgates did not open. Maybe the foot came off the gas a little, but Chinnor certainly showed great fighting spirit to battle their way back and enjoy some prolonged periods of possession, once again putting the home defence under some pressure. Despite their convincing lead, though, the home team were in no mood to concede further points and showed great determination and organisation in holding the visitors at bay. Eventually, it was Stortford that registered the only other try of the game after 64 minutes, when Duff ran in his second score from a neat switch pass by Hankin, as the fullback ran back a poor defensive kick from Chinnor. Banks again added the extra 2 points and his side were able to see out the rest of the match without any serious alarms.

The valuable 5 league points won , combined with a generally favourable set of results for teams above us, have seen Stortford move out of the relegation places, one point above Moseley and Esher and, almost as importantly, within 2 points of Cambridge, Caldy and Sale. All to play for!