On a bright sunny Sunday in Marlow, soft enough underfoot, a Chinnor team travelled across the border to play a pre season friendly. We hoped it would be friendly - 15 Chinnor players attend with zero substitutes. We Kicked off at 11am prompt and Chinnor appeared slow out of the blocks but soon got into their stride when a Marlow try sneaked past them. Fortunately for Chinnor, this was disallowed but was the wake up call they needed. With so many of the team out of their preferred positions, they needed no work well as a team - and they soon did. Chinnor managed to get one try (converted by Thompson) in the first of three 20 minutes.

The 3 x 20 minute format allowed for well directed coaching in the breaks, but also fresh legs in the Marlow team as they had a number of additional players keen to get on the pitch. The second third saw another try for Chinnor (Hunt) after a well worked drive down the touch line which was converted by Thompson. Marlow responded with a well executed surge through our defence and successfully converted to bring the score to 12 7. A disallowed Chinnor try did nothing to dampen their enthusiasm as Chinnor was still in the lead when the whistle blew.

The third third period saw Marlow bring out what probably felt like another team to our boys with so many new faces on the pitch. Chinnor came out strong and the final third was battled out with Chinnor digging deep. A third try from Chinnor converted by Mathews saw the boys lift their spirits, and the score to 19-12 with quite a lot of the third left. Marlow clearly had motivation and drive to score, but the Chinnor defending was excellent. Dispite some end to end rugby, neither team could quite get it over the line. Both team looked relieved when the final whistle blew. Thankfully, it was a friendly friendly, we sustained no injuries going forward into our next game. Marlow gave us a run for our money in a game played well by both teams. Many thanks to Marlow for their hospitality.