Grove 2nd XV 10 - 12 Amersham & Chiltern 3rd XV

On Saturday 17th September, Amersham & Chiltern 3rd XV travelled up to Grove to face a 2nd team that consisted of a number of players who had been regularly playing for their 1st team in recent seasons. After a number of drop outs, Chiltern travelled with just 15 men and no reserves, having given the one player they had for the bench to the 4th team.

Chiltern arrived at Grove with little more than half an hour left until kick off due to the meet time of 1pm not being adequate to make the trip to the other side of Oxford and managed a good five minute warm up before the game got underway.

The game was fairly evenly balanced for much of the first half, with Grove dominating the scrums due to a much heavier pack but being unable to break down the Chiltern defence. However, once Chiltern were able to get the ball out to their back line, they were able to run rings around their opposition who appeared to be fielding a back line of front row players. On one such occasion when Chiltern were able to produce good ball, it was sent down the line with Johnny Rice finding Zak Underwood with the final pass, allowing him to race over the try line and touch down in the corner. Will Grey stepped up for the conversion and slotted it between the posts from right out on the far left touch line. 0-7.

A second try came from Zak Underwood again midway through the first half. A strong, jinking run followed by a chip over the Grove defence by Will Grey was gathered by the Grove fly half (who also played Hooker?!) who then ran sideways across the pitch with Will and Scott Jarrold in hot pursuit before eventually being caught and spilling the ball. It bobbled around on the floor for a bit before Zak scooped it up and dived over the line. This time, Will was unable to convert. 0-12.

Chiltern could have had one or two more before half time, most notably through Johnny Rice, who may wish he’d taken a leaf out of Zak Underwood’s book and dived in for a try in the corner. As it was, he didn’t. He reached the line and went to casually touch it down only for the covering Grove defender to wrap him and the ball up and hold it up over the line.

Half Time 0-12

The second half saw much of the same as the first but with Chiltern really struggling to produce good ball for their backs under heavy pressure from the Grove pack. This pressure bought about one of their tries when, with a Chiltern scrum on their own 5 metre line, they drove Chiltern backwards. Despite No. 8 Luke Donnebaum reaching in to the second row and dropping on the ball the scrum continued to go backwards, trampling over the top of him as it went and forcing a spill, which a Grove player picked up carried over the line. This was unconverted. 5 -12.

A second Grove try came through another one of their forwards when a few phases resulted in their prop crashing over the line. Despite the ball being clearly held up, the referee felt he saw it grounded before the bouncing back up. The conversion was scuffed, leaving Chiltern with a narrow 10 – 12 lead.

The rest of the game saw Grove looking for those winning points before Chiltern managed to make their way back into the Grove half. A penalty was conceded in a kickable position, so the decision was for Will Grey to take the chance to put an unconverted try between the two teams. Unfortunately, the kick was dragged slightly wide of the right hand upright. Grove continued to be dominant in the scrums and this began taking it’s toll on Chiltern. Firstly, Will Howe strained a muscle in his neck. The two captains were called over and a discussion about uncontested scrums was had. Understandably, Grove were less than impressed by this but Chiltern opted to move flanker Paddy Essen into prop. The next scrum saw Grove turn the screw and drive Chiltern back at a rate of knots. This resulted in the scrum going down and driving over the top of young prop, Harry Andrews. This cause injury to his neck and forced him from the field of play. Despite Chiltern trying to keep the game a fair contest by having previously supplied a front row replacement, Grove felt Chiltern were forcing uncontested scrums as a tactic to try and give some steady ball for them to unleash their back. This decision was made purely on the grounds that no one’s safety should be put in danger.

Chiltern managed to hold out for the remainder of the game, despite the fact that, with 7 minutes remaining, Luke Donnebaum was sent to the bin. Having been targeted all game and taken cheap shots at every opportunity, the final straw was the Grove captain/fly half/hooker punching him in the crown jewels. This resulted in a few handbags being waved around before the referee halted the game and called both players over. The decision was taken that, as the referee had not seen the initial punch and only heard Luke’s voice, he had instigated the whole thing and, therefore, was the only one who needed to be sent to the bin.

Chiltern managed to hold out the remaining minutes with only 13 men left on the pitch to secure a hard fought victory against a team who will be challenging for the title at the end of this season. 

Full Time 10 - 12

Man of the Match was awarded to centre Dan Crehan for a great display of running during the first half (we were all dog sh*te in the second half!!).

1. Harry Andrews
2. Mike Morton
3. Will Howe
4. Colm Gilhooley
5. Dave Robertson
6. Paddy Essen
7. Simon Thomas
8. Luke Donnebaum (c)
9. Paul Sitzburger
10. Scott Jarrold
11. Zak Underwood
12. Luke Johnson
13. Dan Crehan
14. Johnny Rice
15. Will Grey