Chobham 12 – 51 Amersham & Chiltern
Saturday saw the Scarlet & Golds host top of the table Amersham & Chiltern in a game that showed why the visitors are top. Their five tries in the second half was the biggest difference in the teams. For the second time this season the hosts were bullied into coming second on the day. This was probably the biggest game in Regional 2 Thames this weekend and Amersham came out deserved winners.
Robbie Kennard team was strengthened from the victory over Belsize Park with the return of Pete McCain from his ban, Sean Bellion at prop, Chris Kent in the second row, Josh Sheppard in the centres and Oli Guy on the bench. Shaun Buchan made his 1st XV debut as front row cover, having played for the last few years in New Zealand, the ex Chobham youth has returned a far more rounded player and will add strength to the pack. Sadly this week Chobham had three props unavailable, all of which could have made a bigger difference for the pack if Robbie had had the option to select them.
Sam Davies joined the elite group of half centurions at Chobham, Sam made his debut against Battersea Ironsides in London 2 South West on 14th September 2019 in a 28-5 loss at Fowlers Wells. Sam joined the club as a 5 year old and played minis and juniors for the club, he represented Surrey at Under 18s and more recently for the Surrey Mens Senior team. Sam currently is a Harlequins Community Coach and is also the Chobham Under 14s coach. He has already scored 65 points this season and is well on his way to this seasons top scorer at Chobham. Last time out at Belsize Park Sam scored the last minute winner for the Scarlett & Golds.
The game from the start was a fast physical encounter, Amersham soaked up the Chobham pressure and on their first visit to the hosts 22 a high tackle allowed Pothecary to convert a penalty. Chobham had a couple of visits to the Amersham 22, but were unable to convert it into points. But it took the visitors 20 minutes before they crossed the line with McGregor-Smith for te opening try. Within ten minutes Amersham were 20 points up with tries from scrum half Kenyon and the man of the match winger Lewis. Just before half time the visitors No.8 Scott went in the sin bin for slowing the ball down on the line. From the Chobham line out a well worked move saw Sam Goddard score just before the turn around, Amersham going in 20-5 up at half time.
Once Scott was back on the field following his yellow card he scored two tries in as many minutes. The damage had been done and Chobham were now playing catch up. Not to be outdone winger Lewis then got his second try of the day. With John Rumsey now playing at scrum half he took a quick tap from a penalty to get the hosts second try of the day. But the damage had been done and Amersham finished the day off in the last 10 minutes with a try for both wingers, Anderson and the hat trick for Lewis.
A very strong and deserved Amersham & Chiltern went home the victors, Chobham had let themselves down with some very poor defence and lost 12-51. They travel this Saturday to 10th placed Grasshoppers, who cannot be underestimated as they beat second placed HAC at the weekend.
Head Coach Robbie Kennard said “A tough day at the office today and a real welcome to Level 6 rugby. We made a lot of mistakes in possession and all credit to Amersham and Chiltern, they took advantage and were clinical.
We will lick our wounds and look to bounce back this week. I fully expect to see a reaction from the group.”
Captain Guy Mawhood said “A really tough day for the boys today. Everything we did seemed to go wrong and when the pressure is on to score you do things you wouldn’t usually do and that’s what happened to us today.
Fair play to Amersham though, there’s a reason they came second in this league last year and they are 6 from 6 this year. They’re a well organised and coached team with some big strong boys. They were the better team, but we look forward to the reverse fixture later in the year.”
Forwards coach Chris Kent said “A tough scoreline to swallow as this is the second game this season where we lost the physical battle and failed to retain possession when it mattered. Having been promoted this year, you expect two steps forward one step back on occasion, so we must continue to develop physically and become more attritional. The reaction at training this week will be vital and I have no doubt the boys will rise to the challenge.
I must call out a stellar debut from hooker Shaun Buchan, and an 80 minute shift from Sean Bellion, who stepped up to play tight head for the first time ever against top of the league, after three prop forwards become unavailable at late notice.”
Director of Rugby Harry Norman-Walker said “Huge credit to Amersham today who showed us the quality that is expected to compete at Level 6 rugby week in week out, not only were we poor in defence and dropped off tackles, in attack we didn’t protect the pill and hence lost out. It’s an 80 minute game and we need to learn to build a try as opposed to think we can score from every move.
Huge credit to Sean Bellion at tight head for the first time and to Pete MCain who both lasted 80 minutes, our scrum held there own in a game we expected to be totally dominated. Welcome too to Shuan Buchan making his debut for the Scarlett and Golds and congratulations to Sam Davies on his 1st XV 50th appearance.
Next week we will have a lot to address in training and we look forward to the trip to Grasshoppers and forgetting about today.”
Starting: Pete McCain; Dan Warren; Sean Bellion; Chris Kent; Sam Goddard; George McPherson; Harrison Jones; Dan Benton; Guy Mawhood; Adam Peever;
Ieuan Woods; Josh Sheppard; Sam Davies; Joe Mousley; John Rumsey
Replacements: Harvey Bowen; Shaun Buchan; Oli Guy