CHINNOR returned to winning ways with a morale-boosting bonus-point victory at Tonbridge Juddians.

Tries from Ben Manning, Cameron Terry, James Bourton, Kieran Goss and George Grose helped us to finish October with five points on the road as we entered a break in our National League 1 campaign with a confidence-boosting performance.

It did prove to be another game of two halves as we produced some of our best rugby of the season to lead 29-8 at the break.
Juddians’ try arrived just before half-time and that propelled them into a much-improved second 40 minutes, but we produced a gritty defensive performance to restrict them to only one more score and regain control as we ultimately recorded a comfortable victory.

The victory has lifted us to fifth in the table, closing the gap to the teams above as both leaders Cinderford and third-placed Rams suffered defeats.

Goss recovered from injury to return on the right wing for his 117th appearance in our only change in the backs.

Amongst the forwards, hooker Cameron Terry and openside flanker Max Clementson returned, with vice-captain Ben Manning moving to blindside flanker on his 149th cap.

Lock Oli Curry, who rejoined the Club on Thursday following a short loan spell in 2017/18, was named on the bench.

We made an electric start to the match and a scintillating opening 23 minutes saw us race into a 29-3 lead.

The contest was only two minutes old when we opened the scoring. Quick hands and strong carries had Juddians on the back foot and it seemed only a matter of time before we broke through. Manning was the man to do it, powering through a gap and over the whitewash for his 26th try on cap No 149. Bourton added the extras to make it 7-0.

Tonbridge responded quickly through a Tom White penalty, but it was all Chinnor for the opening 20 minutes or so.

Our second try arrived on eight minutes when more quick handling caused problems. We spread the ball wide to Goss, who offloaded in the tackle and Terry went storming over. Bourton stepped up to slot the conversion to make it 14-3, before adding a further three points from a 12th-minute penalty.

A territorial battle needed to be won before we further extended our lead and after Nick Smith’s fine kick sent us back deep into the TJs half, we sucked our hosts in following a lineout and spread wide for Bourton to dive over for an unconverted try.

We then secured the four-try bonus-point in fine style on 23 minutes. Sam Yawayawa sidestepped his way past two players and offloaded to Rob Hardwick. The young prop then found Chilvers, who fed Bourton and the full-back’s superb offload out of the back of his hand sent Goss sprinting down the right and over for his 39th try for the Club. Bourton slotted the conversion as we extended our lead to 26 points.

That was to be the end of our scoring in the first half and we went on to lose Smith to a shoulder injury with Jack Walsh replacing him at fly-half.

This was the second injury we suffered in the game, with Josh Hodson forced off early with a hamstring issue and Seb Scott coming on in his place.

Tonbridge looked the more threatening as the half wore on and Goss made a fine try-saving tackle, but they did end the period with a try as Murray Galbraith-Lowe crossed out wide.

We led 29-8 at the break and introduced Keston Lines and Curry in place of Chilvers and Conor Brockschmidt.

However, Tonbridge made a strong start to the second 40 minutes as they seemed invigorated by Galbraith-Lowe’s try.

Great defensive work kept them at bay for seven minutes, but a driving maul proved unstoppable as Joe Duffy crashed over. White then added the conversion to cut our lead to 14 points.

We needed to reassert our control on the game and, despite a ten-minute period where the penalty count against us began to rise, we got a grip on the contest through hard work, discipline and pressure.

Bourton missed a 52nd-minute penalty to get our side of the scoreboard moving again, but we were showing signs that we were in control of the encounter.

Hardwick and Scott carried well in another attack, which led to Carter sending a kick in behind, with pressure from Walsh rushing Harvey Young into clearing into touch.

TJs showed flashes of attractive rugby when in possession, but we continued to cause problems and those find hands from the first half returned for our fifth try on 72 minutes. It all started when Terry, Scott and Bourton showed superb handling to send Walsh down the right who was tackled into touch just five metres out.

Juddians won their lineout, but then Terry brilliantly reclaimed the ball and we quickly played across the pitch, resulting in Walsh feeding outside centre Grose who turned his man and dived over for his second try for the Club.

There was still time to extend our lead, but a Bourton penalty attempt slipped wide, while Goss looked to have dotted down after scampering after a Walsh kick, but was denied his second try of the afternoon as he was adjudged to knock on.

All in all, it was an extremely positive afternoon and a strong way to head into a rest week.

Tonbridge Juddians: Young, Burne, Tout, McGhie, Gailbraith-Lowe, White, Walsh, Reid, Duffy, Sassone, Freeman, Irvine, Ashmore, Sullivan, Colderick.
Reps: Boon, O’Sullivan, Munnelly, Chapman, Edwards.

Chinnor: Bourton, Goss, Grose, Yawayawa, Hodson, N Smith, Carter, Chilvers, Terry, Hardwick, Glynn, Brockschmidt, Manning, Clementson, Tuilagi.
Reps: Lines, Lomas, Curry, Scott, Walsh.