Chichester return to winning ways

On an overcast afternoon it was Winchester who kicked off up the slope. Rory Minton’s clearance kick the ball was recovered by the chasing Fin West and then moved down the field, passing through the hands of most of the team, before Gareth Davies saw a gap and popped through the opposition defence to score a great team try. Converted by Tom Mahon. 7-0 after 2 minutes.

What followed, was nearly 20 minutes of thoroughly entertaining rugby with chances for both teams thwarted by well organised defences. Finally, the deadlock was broken with a move started when Tyrese Makasi caught a clearance kick deep inside the Blues’ half and ended, 12 passes later, when he received the ball back, 8 metres out, and crossed the whitewash to score. Converted by Mahon. 14-0. From the restart, Winchester upped the tempo and Chichester were pinned back in their own half, on the defensive. The visitors were made to fight for every yard but finally they got to the try line and forced their way over under the posts. Converted. 14-7. In the final 10 minutes of the half Blues responded with a great turnover from Rob Hennig and pin point kicking from the boots of Mahon and Roy Davidson.

Chichester pressure forced a penalty 30 metres out which Minton tapped and then spun out across the back line to Ethan Etherington who went on a mazy run through the Winchester defence before being stopped short. The forwards arrived in number and, after a couple of pick and goes, Huw Binfield dotted down. Converted by Mahon on 40 minutes.

Chichester started the second half brightly but were undone by a glorious 50/22 which gave Winchester a lineout on the 5 metre line, which they won and mauled over the try line to score. Conversion missed. 21-12 after 43 minutes.

Blues’ response was immediate. A knock on from a Winchester lineout, on their 10 metre line, was caught by Minton and shipped out to a charging Luca Fleming who was stopped just short. Minton recycled the ball to Davidson whose long looping pass was collected by the unmarked Fin West out wide, for Chichester’s bonus point try. Conversion missed. 26-12. From the restart, Winchester enjoyed a period of possession but struggled to get over the gain line, but a Chichester infringement allowed them to kick for the corner. From the lineout another infringement saw Blues lose a player to the sin bin and concede a try from the subsequent tap and go penalty. Conversion missed. 26-17. Despite being a man down Chichester went on the attack and thought they had scored when West jinked through the opposition defence and crossed the try line. The referee signalled that the ball had been held up and took play back across the pitch for an infringement in the build up. The penalty was kicked into Vultures Corner and from the lineout Davies spun the ball out wide, bypassing 3 Chichester players, to Lewis Underwood on the touchline who dived across the line to score. Converted by Minton. 33-17 with 20 minutes left.

Play ebbed and flowed for 12 minutes and then Minton caught a clearance kick 30 metres out and charged forward into contact. Tucker picked up the ball and muscled his way through the Winchester defence and managed to offload at the try line to the supporting Hennig for a try under the posts. Converted by Minton. 40-17 with 7 minutes to play. Winchester once again upped the tempo, chasing a try bonus point, but the threat was contained and in the dying seconds Josh Brown crossed the try line but the referee signalled that the ball had been held up before blowing to end the match.

40-17 at full time and 5 points.

Man of the match was Rob Hennig.

Chichester squad: G. Knight, Underwood, Brown, Tucker (capt.), Heriot, Hennig, Binfield, Makasi Minton, Davies, Etherington, Fleming, Davidson, West, Mahon, Glass, Burton and Norris.