Ampthill kicked off their Champ Rugby Round 5 fixture at Kingsey Road with the floodlights already on following last weeks change of clocks, and looking to take advantage of the wind in the first half.
The Mob were to spend the first fifteen minutes of the game seemingly camped in the Chinnor twenty two and spurned three opportunities to open the scoring from lineouts within 10m of the line.
A tenth minute yellow card for the Chinnor wing Hughes gave the Mob a man advantage and they soon made it count when captain Fraser Strachan hacked the ball through for Sam Kildunne to chase and dot down. A successful Louis Grimoldby conversion giving Ampthill a 0 v 7 lead with just under a quarter of the game played.
Chinnor came back strong with a try of their own minutes later – hooker Alun Walker finishing from driving maul, and on 30 minutes added a second almost identical score to give the hosts a 10 v 7 lead to take into half time.
The heavens opened during half time and Chinnor kicked off the second half with the wind. The weather would worsen throughout the half causing multiple unforced errors for both sides.
The Mob continued to play an expansive game despite the conditions and the Falcons defence held firm. With the majority of the action in midfield, Ampthill full back Josh Barton kept trying to open up the Falcons on his 50th appearance in Maroon & Gold.
A second yellow for Hughes on 60 minutes gave Ampthill another man advantage for the remainder of the game, however the Falcons would score next when quick ball through wet hands found the replacement wing who dived over in the corner with ten to play.
Ampthill kept playing hard until the final whistle but couldn’t find a way through the Chinnor defence. But when awarded a penalty 40m out in the final play Angus Hall stepped up to kick into the wind to gain the Mob a losing bonus point.
Following the game Dave Ward said “Credit to Chinnor they played the conditions and were good for the win. I can’t fault the effort of our players today, it was a step forward after last week but we didn’t take our opportunities to score and that has cost us”
1. Harrison Courtney 2. Seb Smith 3. Callum Norrie 4. Totoa Auvaa 5. Olamide Sodeke 6. Charlie West 7. Charles Rylands (vc) 8. Tino Mapapalangi 9. Efan Jones 10. Louis Grimoldby 11. Sam Kildunne 12. Fraser Strachan (c) 13. Olly Hartley 14. Angus Hall 15. Josh Barton
Replacements:
16 Harrison Dakin 17 Rich Barrington 18 Jevaughn Warren 19 Justin Mataele 20 Ollie Mullarkey 21 Reggie Hammick 22 Alex Davies 23 Sam Spink