Chinnor vs Cornish Pirates – Match Report

Zero Christmas Joy at Chinnor

By Phil Westren

Chinnor 47 – Cornish Pirates 10

Having lost by the narrowest of margins, 27-26, at home to Bedford Blues the previous weekend, in Round 11 of ‘Champ’ rugby the Cornish Pirates were keen to bounce back away to Chinnor on Saturday. Sadly, it was not to be.

Enjoying their second season in Tier 2, and with former Harlequins and England player Nick Easter at the helm as the Oxfordshire side’s Director of Rugby, ‘The Villagers’, to give Chinnor their nickname, have settled in well. Yes, it was expected that they would provide stern opposition in what was a seventh versus fourth in the league encounter at their Kingsey Road ground in Thame. However, nobody would have predicted such a result, there absolutely no Christmas joy for the Pirates versus a Chinnor side who fully deserved the victory.

The Cornish Pirates made just one change in their backs for this fixture, with Matty Ward making a return on the wing in place of Harry Yates, who this week took a seat on the bench. As for the pack, a fresh pair of prop forwards were selected to start, namely Alessandro Heaney and Ollie Andrews. Heaney featured as a replacement against Bedford Blues, replacing Billy Young, whilst Andrews was making a first start in the league this season in place of Alfie Petch.

In good conditions the home side began well and opened their scoring in the ninth minute. After taking play to the right, the ball was then quickly worked left from where their experienced hooker Alun Walker moved the ball audaciously back through his legs, to quickly enable centre Sam Hanks to score near the posts. Fly-half Nathan Chamberlain added the extras.

Chinnor were certainly enjoying the best of the opening exchanges, with former ‘Pirate’ Harry Dugmore and wing Freddie Owsley, who has played for Scotland 7s, to the fore. They would also add to their tally with two more converted tries. The first was scored off a driving maul by their scrum half and skipper Luke Carter, whilst the second followed an enterprising run by another former Pirates’ player, South African wing Kieran Goss, which was scored by centre James Bourton.

📷Pirates' second row forward Charlie Rice looks to break an attempted tackle - Photo credit: Brian Tempest

Half an hour on the clock and the Pirates had little or nothing to shout about, before a chase by wing Arthur Relton and shortly after a well- controlled drive to the line, ended with hooker Morgan Nelson scoring their first try in the match. Fly-half Arwel Robson was unable to add the conversion but for a short spell there was confidence witnessed in the team’s play.

Before the break, ‘The Villagers’ managed though to secure a four try bonus point through the impressive Walker, whose unconverted try made it 26-5

The Pirates were left having much to think about during the interval, as their general performance thus far had seen them make little impact with limited possession, plus a few too many errors had been made. Much better was expected in the second half.

A couple of early penalty awards at the start of the second forty gave hope that fortune for the visitors was about to change, plus with backrowers Matt Cannon and Tomi Agbongbon making dents in the opposition defence, and with prop Alessandro Heaney doing good work on the ground, perhaps things could improve. But no.

Chinnor full-back Toby Cousins was an eager performer when given the opportunity, and after being tackled on the line and the ball moved right it was Dugmore who scored a converted try to the immediate left of the posts.

With the floodlights on there was now a bit of a mountain to climb for the forlorn Pirates, but they did score their second and final try of the match when alert replacement wing Ben Cambriani gathered Robson’s pinpoint kick to the right corner.

A Pirates error gifted Carter his second converted try of the game and overcoming the deficit was now simply too much to ask. As it worked out Chinnor’s seventh and final try, and the sixth converted by Chamberlain, was scored by Cousins.

In conclusion, credit must be given to Chinnor, as the Pirates now look to dust themselves down and prepare for the visit of league leaders Ealing Trailfinders to the Mennaye Field next Saturday. A big ask? Yes. But you never know.

Commenting at the end of the match, which was the Cornish Pirates final away game in 2025, coach Joe Walsh said:

“To their credit this was a match where a very able and well coached Chinnor side executed their game really well and we executed ours poorly, which for us was naturally frustrating.

“Look, rugby is a weird game and obviously creating and managing moments in a match are important, but they didn’t work for us today. Also, at times when your energy is not right you just have to take your medicine.

“I thought those lads who came off the bench put in an incredible effort putting their bodies on the line, and lock Charlie Rice was another who put in a good shift. Even with the scoreline as it was, which was disappointing, they refused to bow.

“As coaches we know what our group of players are capable of, because we see their strengths, their commitment and how passionate they are, and it is what we’ll want to see in full when we take on Ealing next Saturday in front of a likely sell-out crowd.”

Chinnor:   15 Toby Cousins 14 Kieran Goss 13 Sam Hanks 12 James Bourton 11 Freddie Owsley 10 Nathan Chamberlain 9 Luke Carter (captain); 1 Kai Owen 2 Alun Walker 3 Robin Hardwick 4 Jamie Campbell 5 Conor Brockschmidt 6 Harry Dugmore 7 Will Cave 8 Scott Hall.

Replacements:   16 Luke Thompson 17 Ramaz Rukhadze 18 Lawson Porter 19 Chris Moore 20 Monty Loggerberg 21 Callum Pascoe 22 Thomas Watson 23 Cameron Rafferty.

Cornish Pirates:   15 Louie Sinclair 14 Arthur Relton 13 Chester Ribbons 12 Joe Elderkin 11 Matty Ward 10 Arwel Robson 9 Dan Hiscocks (captain); 1 Alessandro Heaney 2 Morgan Nelson 3 OLLIE ANDREWS 4 Charlie Rice 5 Alfie Bell 6 Matt Cannon 7 Josh King 8 Tomi Agbongbon.

Replacements:   16 Matt Pritchard 17 Billy Young 18 James French 19 Rory Suttor 20 Luke Ratcliff 21 Will Rigelsford 22 Harry Yates 23 Ben Cambriani.

Scorers:

Chinnor – tries: Carter (2), Hanks, Bourton, Walker, Dugmore, Cousins;                        cons: 10 Chamberlain (6).

Cornish Pirates – tries: Nelson, Cambriani. 

Referee:   Joe James

Attendance:   2231

📷Scrum-capped Pirates' backrower Matt Cannon is brought to ground. - Photo credit: Brian Tempest