Chinnor 80 Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 10

Facing the league leaders with skipper, James Ayrton unavailable, Alex Rayment failing a fitness test on the day and Francis Moore and Harrison Langworthy injured in the first half, Stortford were up against it but, more importantly, from the off, the side seemed to lack the edge and the aggression of recent weeks. Defensive line speed was off and much of the tackling was passive, allowing a strong, aggressive and very well organised Chinnor side to run riot. Much of the damage was done by forwards charging up the middle, often breaking tackles but, if not, offloading to the constant flow of support players, so that they were able to tot up a raft of tries without needing to deploy great feats of individual brilliance. They were remorseless in possession, as demonstrated by their first try after only 3 minutes, when they went through multiple phases after gathering the opening kick, pulling the defence left and right until ruthlessly exploiting a mismatch in midfield. In what proved to have been a very rare turning of the tide, Stortford did manage to mount some pressure and after 10 minutes a good chase, tackle and jackle by Tom Mills after a Tom Walker chip kick won a penalty on the opposition 22, from which the latter took 3 points. From then on, though the floodgates opened, with Chinnor adding 6 more tries before the break. They were ruthless against the visitors' largely passive defence, surrounding ball carriers with offloading options, and keeping the ball moving, so that they repeatedly stretched the defence to breaking point. Allied to pretty flawless handling and a decisive edge at both scrum and lineout this made the league leaders impossible to resist for large portions of the half.

Any hopes that Stortford's supporters might have cherished of a resurgence after halftime were quickly dashed, when Chinnor added yet another converted try after only 2 minutes of the half, clinically exploiting a turnover, as the visitors tried to run back the restart kick. Three more 7 pointers were added in the next 20 minutes, as the remorseless Chinnor machine ground on, overwhelming a brave, but outgunned defensive effort from Stortford. In contrast, on the rare occasions when the visitors had possession, the home side's line speed was high and their tackling very strong throughout, making it difficult for Stortford to gain any momentum. To their credit, though, they stuck to the task and from the 74th minute managed to mount a series of attacks on the Chinnor 22, winning a series of penalties, resulting in a yellow card and a 5 metre lineout. A penalty awarded to the home side, as Stortford's forwards drove towards the line from the lineout temporarily snuffed out the danger, but the visitors were soon back on the front foot and some swift handling down the line, with the defence drawn in, as Mills threatened up the middle, saw Chris Smith dash round the outside for a try under the posts for a consolation try. Ruthless to the end, though, the home side drove back up the field and from their own 5 metre lineout after a Stortford infringement, they were awarded a penalty try, as the maul collapsed some way short of the line.