Chichester RFC hang on to beat Andover at Oaklands Park
Chichester narrowly beat Andover at Oaklands Park as their good start to life in Hampshire Counties 1 continued.
A 26-22 victory brought four points and moved the Blues up to fourth in the standings.
They made five changes, with Jay Manley and Tyrese Makasi joining the forwards and Jaimie Kinninmont, Luca Fleming and Rory Dowding coming into the backs.
On a warm, benign and overcast autumn afternoon, Chichester kicked off down the slope. Blues immediately had Andover under pressure and, with only three minutes on the clock, the referee dispatched one of their players to the sin bin.
Chichester attacked the try line but the visitors managed to hold up the ball as Blues crossed the whitewash.
On nine minutes Andover were penalised in front of the posts for impeding Huw Binfield in the ruck and the penalty was kicked by Rory Dowding.
With the visitors back at full strength they made their first foray into Blues’ half and were rewarded with a penalty 20m out, converted for 3-3.
From the restart, Chichester recovered the ball which Jaimie Kinninmont recycled to Rhys Thompson, who offloaded to Tyrese Makasi. The Blues co-captain outstripped the Andover defence on the touchline to run in a try from 30m.
The opposition full-back delivered a glorious 50:22 into Vultures’ Corner and from the lineout a dummy to the front beat Chichester defence for a try – 8-8 after 18 minutes.
Andover were penalised in the ruck on the 22m line allowing Dowding to increase the lead to 11-8. The young full-back increased the lead further on 29 minutes after another opposition infringement on their 22m line, 14-8.
On 35 minutes, Josh Brown crossed the whitewash but was held up. From the subsequent drop-out Chichester moved the ball back towards the try line with strong carries from Luca Fleming, Fin Glass and Makasi.
With the maul on the line, and Blues’ players queuing to the left, Kinninmont switched direction and spun the ball to Thompson in space for a try under the posts, converted by Dowding for 21-8.
In the final seconds of the half, Dowding kicked a long ball down the pitch and the chasing Jo Amin forced the Andover full-back to ground the ball in the in-goal area. From the scrum, the Chichester pack pushed the opposition across the try line and Rob Hennig dotted down and it was 26-8 at the interval.
Andover kicked off and immediately looked rejuvenated as they attempted to punch holes in the Blues’ defence. On 47 minutes they were rewarded with a try out wide, converted.
The next 30 minutes saw Chichester under relentless attack from Andover who time after time were thwarted by a combination of great defensive work, poor handling or infringements.
There were moments of respite for Blues, but they never got to the visitors’ red zone. On 77 minutes the referee sent an Andover player to the sin bin for back chat, and the Chichester faithful were hopeful that the numerical advantage might yield a bonus-point try.
But their optimism was dashed when Andover recovered the ball from the penalty and ran in a try out wide, conversion missed. It was 26-22 with a nervous two minutes survived by Chichester.
Man of the Match was Fin Glass.
Chichester are next in action at Basingstoke on Saturday (Oct 18).