Bromley 10 – 45 Chobham
On a beautiful Saturday the Scarlet and Golds travelled to the London/ Kent borders to play Bromley in the last 16 of the Papa Johns Communities Championship Cup (Counties 1), a national competition that finishes at Twickenham on the 7th May. Bromley beat the away teams league rivals Tiffs in the last round and Bill Davisons squad knew it will not be an easy game. The team saw the return of captain Guy Mawhood at scrum half, in the engine room Matt Bosworth, Dan Benton & Dan Warren, as well as Josh Sheppard on the wing and Reece Finnerty as front row cover on the bench. A travelling crowd of 50 supporters were expecting an enjoyable afternoon.
Excitedly two of the players in the squad were playing their 50th 1st XV game for Chobham, Pete McCain and Tommy Reed, Pete joined the club as a 13-year-old and quickly slotted into his position as prop under the guidance of Andy Campbell. He went onto to represent Surrey Rugby at Under 15s, U16s & U21s. He went onto to play rugby as part of his further education for the West Surrey Academy that was based at Fowlers Wells under the influential Liam Cranford. Pete has become a mainstay of a very successful scrum this season and is looking forward to new campaign at Level 6. Pete is renowned for his loose play as well as in the tight, maturing into a player with great opportunity. His debut at 1st XV was away to Maidstone in a 27-17 win on 4th November 2017.
Tommy got his first 1st XV start a season later away to Thurrock on 24th November 2018, in a game he probably wishes to forget, they lost 77-7. Tommy played his mini and junior rugby at Reeds before playing Swansea University, on returning he chose to join Chobham and is a crucial part of the Fowlers Wells backline. He prefers fullback, but is just as likely to set the game alight in the centre or on the wing. Despite not being the most dominant in size, he will never shy away from contact and loves nothing more than sitting down a much bigger opposition player.
From the kick off the visitors made hard work for themselves and early on a penalty against them was kicked into the corner by Bromley with only 2 minutes gone. From the lineout a good drive by the hosts provided them a chance to capitalise on poor Chobham to score on the blindside, Bromleys George Scott added to his tally as the club’s top scorer of the season. From then on Chobham moved up their game to the team that has been on the pitch all season. Even through the Chob scrum was smaller, they totally dominated the hosts imposing pack. After a long down field kick from the hosts 22m was collected by the Scarlett & Golds Reed who ran the ball back, following play by Oli Guy, Sean Bellion and eventually a Dan Warren ruck, Guy Mawhood saw the gap and ran nearly half the length of the pitch to score a converted try in the right corner.
It was going to be a long day for Bromley as Chobham started to dominate the lineouts as well, Matt Bosworth and Dan Benton upsetting throw in after throw in and giving the hosts little to work with. But a mistake by Chobham just inside the hosts half allowed Bromley to break away and after a couple of grubbers off the floor and well supported play saw Bromley lock Robbie Brown score their second and last try of the day. Within a minute Chobham responded again with a catch and drive from a 5m line out that saw the Scarlet & Golds cross the line for McCain to get their second converted try of the day. Chobham’s control and discipline was definitely the difference between the two teams, Bromley were starting to noticibly get frustrated and it was affecting them. Their poor ability to exit cleanly kept putting themselves under even more pressure.
From a poor penalty kick inside the hosts 22 failing to make touch, Chobham were able to counter and as the ball went through the hands of every back with Mawhood scoring under the posts. Mawhoods hatrick came from a Bromley 5m defensive scrum that saw the ball pop out and he retrieved it to score the fourth converted try of the half. Chobham went in 28-10 at half time and were now looking confident.
The second half started as the first half had ended with Chobham running the ball with both forwards and backs working well together, eventually an opportunity arose when a cross field kick by Mawhood was taken by Chris Kent who passed back into winger John Rumsey who scored. Despite the dominance by the visitors, it would be another 20 minutes before Chobham scored again, this time Sheppard on the other wing. The last try of the day went to Finn Livingstone, scoring his first try for Chobham, this came from a lineout just inside Bromley’s half and went through 8 sets of hands before crossing the white line. Sam Davies had a great day with the boot and scored 5 conversions. Chobham won 45-10 on the day and look forward to the Papa Johns Communities Championship Cup Quarter Finals on 22nd April 2023.
Chobham have been drawn at home in the Quarter Finals to Cullompton who finished second in Counties 1 Tribute Western West, they beat Nailsea & Backwell 42 – 14 in the opening round at home and last Saturday beat Walcot 35 – 0 on the road in Round 2.
After the game Head Coach Billy Davison said “Well done to the Chobham 1st team who weathered a bright and aggressive start from hosts Bromley. As the match progressed the team performed well on both sides of the ball. The foundation, as is often the case, came from a superb showing from the Chobham set piece in the first half. Only the last 15mins of disjointed and unfocused rugby marred what was an enjoyable afternoon. Onto the quarter finals next week!”
Robbie Kennard said
“ The squad performed well away at Bromley. In what was perfect conditions, a really good game of rugby was played, with both teams contributing.
A super performance from team and a special mention to Guy the captain for his individual display. We look forward to the challenge of the next round and have a big week of training to get ourselves best prepared.”
Director of Rugby Harry Norman-Walker said “as in previous games we didn’t wake up for the first 10 minutes, but then we upped the pace and discipline that negated all that Bromley threw at us. They were a real rugby club and an enjoyable experience playing a new club. In the second half all the stops in the game meant we were not able to get into a rhythm, but ended deserved winners and now look forward to hosting Ciullompton in the quarter finals on Saturday.”
Starting XV: Pete McCain; Sean Bellion; Angus Hargan; Chris Kent; Matt Bosworth; Dan Benton; Dan Warren; Magnus Barber; Guy Mawhood; Adam Peever; Josh Sheppard; Oli Guy; Sam Davies; John Rumsey; Tommy Reed.
Replacements: Reece Finnerty; Ben Puttock; Finn Livingstone.
The Cannons had a really tough game against an opposition from the league above, going down 59-28 to a really strong Dorking 2s, while the women lost 39-19 in a fantastic game to Wasps Amateurs for their last game of the season in NC1.
Harry Norman-Walker
Director of Rugby Chobham RFC