Chiltern 4th XV 65-7 Old Millhillians
A great start to the season last weekend, when old Millhillians visited Weedon Lane and a young looking 4th team put on a strong display, to win 65 - 7. Not often you will see - 'young looking' and Jules Alexander in the same side!
Next week is the first away trip, a short journey across to St Albans to face Verulamians, who beat Chesham 2s last saturday.
Make sure team manager Stan Griffiths has your availability, will be great to see some of the vets returning to action following their warm up last saturday morning. (Stan's contact details are on the 4th team page)
Chiltern 4th XV 5-5 Verulamians 3rd XV
The second outing of the season, for the newly formed 4s was a tough encounter away at Verulamians in St Albans, Chiltern started strongly a solid platform in scrum, and powerful carrying of the ball, by colts players Tommy Thornton, Stuart Rodgers and Dan Telfar. After considerable periods of pressure, and several missed opportunities, including at least twice when the referee was unsighted to give a try, number 8 Tommy Thornton drove over the line, to take a 5 - 0 lead for Chiltern. On this hot afternoon, half time couldn't come quickly enough, and Chiltern regrouped for the second half, but still unable to string together fluid play which their possession deserved, enable Verulamians to get back into the match, and they spent nearly twenty minutes camped in the Chiltern 22, including a 10 minute period when Chiltern were playing with 14 men, after scrum half Ben Poth had been sin binned, including some good clearance kicks by fullback Dan Bailey, eventually the inevitable happened and Verulamians drove over a rolling maul to level the scores. Chiltern 4s responded bravely immediately putting the opposition under pressure from the kick off and spent the last five minutes attacking the opposition try line, unfortunately to no avail, full time, and the scores were level at 5 - 5. Well done to whole squad, everyone should be proud of their efforts. Today's man of the match, sponsored by the Blue Orchid in Amersham was Tommy Thornton, so onto next week with a home game against Fullerians 4s.
Today's team, Front Row: Rich Bobbett(Captain), Stuart Rodgers and Dan Telfar, Second Row: Tommy Thornton and Pete Moynehan, Back Row: Ben Rush, Jack Claridge and Matt Wall, Scrum Half: Ben Poth, Fly Half: Nick Bolton, Centres: Jeremy Rice and Brian Feaver, Wings: Aaron Bailey and Tristan Lothian, Fullback: Dan Bailey. On the bench - all played an active roll, Peter Kenyon, Gareth Bourne, Jerry Green, Neil Brown and Dance!
Chiltern IV XV 31-0 Fullerians IV XV
On a warm sunny afternoon at Weedon Lane, Chiltern 4s had their third outing of the season looking to maintain their unbeaten record so far. It wasn't long before the Silver Fox - John Hughes scored in corner, after some good driving play by the forwards, completed by a long distance conversion from Dougal Nichols.
A second try quickly followed as the forward dominance began to tell on the opposition, this time outside centre Tristan Lothian used his considerable pace to break through the defensive line and run 40 yards to the goal line. Just before half time John Hughes bagged number try number 2, backing up a good break down the left hand wing, and he had plenty of time run behind the pots to ease the conversion for Dougal. Half time score 19 - 0.
Second half started brightly with Chiltern punishing a loose ball from Fullerians to score try number four, and a hat trick for the Silver Fox! Yes, he did buy a jug in the bar afterwards. The only downside on the day was the loss of winger Nick Bolton with broken collar bone, he has great pace, and is a definite prospect for the future, we look forward to seeing him back soon. Tommy Thornton finished the scoring off, when taking a quick penalty, found a Fullerians defence that decided not to tackle any more, and he ran nearly half the pitch to score under the posts and give Dougal conversion number 3. Final score 31 - 0.
Firstly we must thank Fullerians, who competed well throughout the game, and made it a good match, well done and thank you, secondly today's referee in charge of his first competitive match, thank you and well done Tim, not a bad start! A special mention must go to our last substitution Neil Craggs, yes I did say Neil! who came on for the last few minutes to play alongside his son Matt, well done to the Craggs family. Lastly man of the match sponsored by the Blue Orchid was the Silver Fox - John Hughes.
Next week the 4s are away at local rivals Chesham.
Today's team, Front Row: Rich Bobbett (Captain), Chris Fletcher and Dan Telford, Second Row, Mark Williams and Steve Reitz, Back Row: John Hughes, Tommy Thornton and Matt Craggs, Scrum Half: Steve Everitt, Fly Half: Dougal Nichols, Centres: Tristan Lothian, and Ben Poth, Wings: Nick Bolton and Dance, Fullback: Tony Bissex. On the bench - all played an active roll, Peter Kenyon, Jerry Green, and Elliot!
Chesham 2nd XV 22-33 Chiltern 4th XV
The strong wind proved the decisive factor in a hard fought contest. Chiltern had the benefit of the wind in the 1 st half and made the most of the significant advantage it gave, though it was strong running by the backs which was to the fore. A great break down the blind side by Richard Gazzard from inside his own half was well supported on both sides and he was able to put winger Giles Greenhalgh over for the 1 st try. 2 impressive breaks by outside centre Tristan Lothian resulted in 2 tries for him and a clever break by Scott Jarrold saw him beat 3 men to notch up the 4 th try of the half. 3 conversions by fly half Dougal Nichol gave a half time score of 26-0 to Chiltern.
As expected Chesham mounted a comeback in the 2 nd half when they were able to use the wind to keep Chiltern penned in their own half. Ryan Lee who had come on as substitute for Chesham half way through the 1 st half began to use his strength to batter away at the Chiltern defence. This ultimately led to a try in the corner for him to reduce the gap to 26-5. Chiltern continued to run the ball through their backs and another great break by Lothian gave him his hat-trick try which was converted by Nichol to give Chiltern a 33-5 lead. This proved important as Chesham had the better of the last quarter and score 3 further tries, one of which was converted to give a final score of 33-22. Ryan Lee scored 2 of these tries to give himself a hat-trick.
Chiltern’s defence was very good and a special mention must go to Peter (Digger) Kenyon who played the whole game out of position at blind side flanker and did not stop tackling until the final whistle.
It was difficult to pick a Man of the Match from the Chiltern team with Jack Claridge having a great game at openside but for his 3 tries the award went to Tristan Lothian.
Team:
1 Dan Telford, 2 Chris Fletcher, 3 Elliott Ketteringham, 4 Steve Reitz, 5 Mark Williams sub'd Jerry Green, 6 Peter Kenyon, 7 Jack Claridge, 8 Paul Bowe, 9 Richard Gazzard, 10 Dougal Nicholls, 11 Giles Greenhalgh, 12 Scot Jarrold, 13 Tristan Lothian, 14 Graeme Wood, 15 Rob Mowat
Chiltern 4XV 49-3 Harpenden 4XV
A very young Chiltern team supported by a sprinkling of experience proved too strong for a bigger but older Harpenden team. A lively display by the youngsters, who showed determination in the tackle and speed in attack overwhelmed the opposition and they scored 7 tries which with Dougal Nicholls contributing 14 points with the boot gave a victory by 49-3 with Harpenden’s only score coming from a converted penalty.
Some of the tries were a joy to watch with flowing passing moves supported by strong running forwards resulting in a number of scores. The squad for the day included 7 of last season’s under 17 team.
The try scorers were Paul Bowe (3), Rob Mowat, Arun Bailey, Jonny Keen and Joe Myers. Man of the Match was given to Chris Smith (No not the President) who agreed to play hooker. Normally a centre, it was his 1st attempt at that position and he showed a lot of character.
Team:
1 Peter Moynehan, 2 Chris Smith, 3 Jimmy Matthews, 4 Charlie Hogan, 5 Joe Myers, 6 Jack Claridge, 7 Duncan Price, 8 Paul Bowe, 9 Ben Poth, 10 Dougal Nicholls, 11 Arun Bailey, 12 Brian Feaver, 13 Jonny Keen, 14 Alex Snowden, 15 Rob Mowat, 16 Ben Lane, 17 Kevin Cole, 18 Gareth Bourne
Old Fullerians 4XV 7-38 Chiltern 4XV
The 4th Team probably gave their best performance of the season considering the relative inexperience of more than half the team.
Matt Wall captained the team very well on his return from injury and received good support from all the forwards, particularly from Dave Jennison who made a welcome return after a 3 year break. Dave only played for 60 minutes due to a clash of heads resulting in his opponent being taken to hospital and Dave having to eventually give in to a severe headache. However, playing at No. 8 he showed he still has all the skills.
There was also a man of the match performance from fly half Dougal Nichol who managed a very inexperienced back line with such skill that by the end of the game he had then looking like a well drilled outfit.
6 tries were scored by Tom Pye, Peter (Digger) Kenyon, Ben Pothecary, Alex Liggett and 2 by Jack Claridge. Dougal converted 4 making 38 points in all. The only blemish on a great afternoon was the late concede try following backchat, a walk back 10 yards and a charge by the opposition from 10 yards out whoch proved impossible to stop.
THE MORAL IS THE REFEREE IS ALWAYS RIGHT PARTICULARLY WHEN HE IS WRONG.
Team:
Matt Wall
Peter Kenyon
Jerry Green
Steve Reitz
Chris Caldwell
Ptrick Essen
Jack Claridge
Dave Jennison
Ben Pothecary
Dougal Nichol
Graeme Wood
Tom Pye
Alex Liggett
Rob Baxter
Arun Bailey
sub: Jonathon Hughes (not the silver fox)
Match report: Stan Griffiths 12.12.09