CAMBRIDGE 31-33 CHINNOR
Attendance – 607
Referee – Jonathan Cook
STAR MAN Joe Green (Cambridge
Chinnor’s narrow victory at Grantchester Road saw them return home with the Not The Prem Cup trophy. Nick Easter’s side beat Cambridge 33-24 in the first leg back in the autumn, and, as it happened, that 9-point margin proved crucial in a nip-and-tuck contest which the Blood & Sand were unlucky to lose on the day.
Easter cut a happy figure afterward: “I’m delighted with the way we played and dug in to win. It’s nice to be able to take the trophy home with us. The boys were singing in the dressing room and enjoyed the victory”.
The visitors struck first through scrum half Callum Pascoe, running in from distance. Nathan Chamberlain converted. Joe Tarrant got over for Louis Grimoldby to level the tie off the tee before Ruaridh Dawson’s tap-and-go close in put the hosts into the lead. Hooker Chris Moore reduced the deficit in the corner, with the extras awry. And Eli Caven sent his side into the sheds with a 191-2 lead at the break, wriggling over the line to touch down.
As has often been the case this season, the Blood & Sand conceded early in the second half, with Chamberlain dotting down and converting his own score. Then a properly belligerent finish from prop Morgan Passman effectively put the game to bed.
It wasn’t done as a contest, though, despite a further try from Chinnor’s Chris Hardwick. Sam Hanks pulled one back, gleefully scoring from a decent move out wide. And right at the death Morgan Veness finished off a driving maul for Grimoldby to shoot his team within 2 points with time running out. A frantic finish, though, failed to deliver what would have been a morale-boosting win for Cambridge.
Blood & Sand interim Head Coach Anthony Allen, holding the fort until the arrival of the newly appointed Craig Newby, felt his side had turned a corner. “It’s tough scoring 31 points and not winning the game. It’s frustrating but I feel that areas of our game that need improving are getting there ahead of the trip to Coventry at the end of the month”.
HT 19-12 FT 31-33
Teams
Cambridge
Tarrant 7, Green 8, Hanks 7, Betteridge 7, Caven 7, Grimoldby 7, Dawson 7; Ellwood 6, Brownlie 6, Walker 6, Bretag-Norris 6, Baxter 6, Sylvester 7, Cardew 6, Adams 7
Replacements – Veness 7, Nearchou 6, Bridges 6, Rees 6, Dawson 6, White 7, Williams 7, Hema 6
Chinnor
Crowley 7, Hughes 6, Watson 6, Rokodrava 6, Watson 6, Goss 6, Chamberlain 7, Pascoe 7; Line 6, Moore 7, Hardwick 7, Ryan 7, Shaw 7, Dugmore 6, Clementson 6, Hall 6
Replacements – Cave 6, Primett 6, Porter 6, Rafferty 6, Stokes 6, Carter 6, Yandall 7, Passman 7
Scorers
Cambridge
Tries – Tarrant 12, Dawson 15, Caven 31, Hanks 71, Veness 78
Conversions – Grimoldby 13, 16, 79
Chinnor
Tries – Pascoe 9, Moore 18, Chamberlain 43, Passman 57, Hardwick 63
Conversions – Chamberlain 10, 44, 58, 64