Chippenham is always going to be a difficult fixture; they are Wilts and Dorset champions and won the Clifton tournament this year. Their highly competitive coach (reminded me of somebody I used to know!!) took pleasure in letting me know that they have not had a point scored against them for some unfeasibly long time. We of course were weakened by further injury (I hope the break mends as quick as my boxing injury Olly), pink skirts (you better all have won your hockey tournament!) and last minute flooding. So this combined with our 4th away fixture in as many weeks resulted in only a small turnout.
However, those parents that did endure the long drive witnessed some very fine performances. In our first 20 minute period we went down by 1 try to nil. I felt that we were the stronger side. Jonty and Robert Harris were rocks in the way that they anchored the scrum and with some devilish hooking we were winning their ball as well as our own. Our loose work was good with Alastair Brunt having another good run and our new half back paring of Max and Dewi had plenty of quality ball to work with and made some good ground many times. In all honesty if our tackling had remained at the required level then we would not have conceded the late try and could even have sneaked one ourselves.
The 2nd 20 minute period began as the first had ended with replacement forwards holding up just as well as the starting forwards and Gregor Lovatt deserves a mention for his work. However, with so many players playing out of position in the backs we were starting to struggle and Theo Bulless at fullback was getting through more and more work. Chippenham were able to run in 2 tries quite deservedly in this period and our speed of defence, delivery from the back of the loose and general tackling really let us down.
The 3rd period was a period too far for a now tired squad and 4 unanswered tries resulted. However, the boys (and Parents) who travelled can feel proud of the results. The forwards in particular dominated their opposition for long periods until fatigue set in. We must now work again on tackling, line speed in defence, basic passing and creating room for our attacking options during training this week in preparation for our tournament on 23rd.
Thanks again for the parents who have been on the road for 4 weeks.
