Thornbury 21 Chinnor III 22

THORNBURY lost to bottom club Chinnor Wildboys in a difficult game played in horrendous conditions.

Under-strength Thorns struggled to get going and found the Chinnor pack difficult to deal with.

In driving rain and a stiff gale, the Oxfordshire side controlled the game better.

Thorns scored two lineout tries by George Smith and a third through Gez Asante but Chinnor kicked a late penalty to secure their first win of the season.

Storm Boelo struck Thornbury late Saturday morning and continued to deliver a powerful swirling wind and rain as Thornbury kicked off uphill.

Thorns immediately showed ambition by moving the ball through the hand but knocked it on.

It was not to be the last such error in the game.

But Thorns were in the Chinnor “22” and rumbled ten metres from a lineout for a second minute try by Smith.

Max Curtis converted.

Although Thornbury enjoyed the bulk of the territory they couldn’t get any momentum.

Both sides made countless handling errors and this gave the Chinnor scrum many opportunities to show their superiority in that aspect of tight play.

As the first quarter drew to a close they scored an identical try to Thornbury.

Thorns then lost Nico Ferranti and Mike Gaston to head injuries at the same time shortly before Chinnor went ahead from another lineout.

The conversion put Chinnor 12-7 ahead.

Thornbury threatened and made a number of half-breaks but they were unable to capitalise on those.

Then with the Thornbury lineout not functioning they lost the set-piece on the Chinnor line and the visitors led 12-7 at halftime.

Thorns went ahead nine minutes into the second half when the fourth driving lineout try of the game was scored, a second for Smith, with Curtis’s conversion putting Thorns 14-12 up.

But Chinnor continued to control the scrums and after Thorns knocked-on inches from their line the Chinnor pack drove over to claim the try.

The conversion put Chinnor 19-14 ahead.

Chinnor controlled the match and their kicking game pegged Thorns back.

Thornbury tried to run out of their half and Jack Pickles and Chris Perrett were involved in several of these.

As the match entered the final quarter Thorns regained the lead.

In a period of pick-and-go the impressive Toby Johnson drove for the Chinnor line and Asante crashed over for his customary try.

Curtis made it 21-19.

Hopes that Thornbury could press for a fourth try took a hit when Smith went off with a leg injury, forcing Thorns to drop to 14 players.

Thorns were close to scoring on the Chinnor line, but instead they took play to the Thornbury “22” where they kicked a penalty two minutes from time to regain the lead.

Thorns had run out of time and Chinnor held on for the win.

The weather ensured it would be a scrappy game, and it was an afternoon to forget for Thorns.

Not for the first time they lost a match against a team several places below them in the table that they should have won, but they were not accurate enough, incurred the displeasure of the referee on several occasions and their tight play was not good enough for most of the game.

However, there were a few positives, with lock Toby Johnson enjoying a fine match.

The physio team will have plenty to do to patch-up injured players ahead of next weekend’s match with table-topping Chippenham on their 3G pitch.

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Thornbury Seconds defeated the previously unbeaten Clifton Thirds 19-17.