Last weekend saw the u15s commence their Oxfordshire County Cup campaign. With player availability impacted by injuries and a rescheduled DofE weekend we set off for Didcot with only 14 of our squad available.

With competition rules meaning Didcot had to match our on-field numbers the match kicked off at a sunny but blustery Boundary Park.

Early pressure from Chinnor looked promising but we were unable to convert it into points and Didcot began to take control scoring 4 tries to take a 22-0 lead. As the first half drew to close Chinnor did manage to mount a sustained attack which saw Reuben S break through the Didcot defence to score under the posts. Reuben duly converted his own try taking the half-time score to 22-7.

The Chinnor boys knew they let in a couple of soft tries in the first half and set out to redress the balance. It was a remarkable turnaround in the second half.

The first 20 minutes of the second half were all Chinnor! Wave after wave of attack resulted in a further 3 tries, one apiece from Connor G, Rhys N and Fergus G, which saw Chinnor take the lead at 22-26.

To their credit Didcot regrouped and came back to score two more unconverted tries and regain the lead 32-26. With only a couple of minutes remaining, and no subs to refresh tiring legs, it looked as though Didcot would shade it but from the restart Chinnor launched an all out attack, piling pressure on Didcot who conceded a succession of penalties as Chinnor advanced. Moving the ball through several phases and continually threatening the Didcot line Connor G finally found a way through to score his second try of the match and bring the score to 32-31.

With only enough time left to take the conversion up stepped Reuben S to slot over the kick and secure a memorable win. A tremendous effort from the entire team showing great resilience and determination.
Final score Didcot 32-Chinnor 33.