Chinnor Rugby have been promoted to the RFU Championship as they are crowned Champions of National One Rugby after beating 5th-placed Birmingham Moseley by 52 points to Nil.
This marks a brilliant finish for Chinnor Rugby with 21 wins out of 25 games and still with a game in hand, making them the top-rated rugby club in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Wiltshire.
Hundreds of supporters made their way up the M40 to cheer them on, with those who couldn’t make it to Birmingham listening to the match live on BBC Radio Oxford.
The game kicked off with Chinnor having the wind behind them. Moseley had the lion’s share of possession for the first 15 minutes but was unable to break through Chinnor’s rock-solid defence.
However, a Moseley infringement handed Chinnor a penalty, kicked to touch 7 metres out, a short throw and a solid drive saw Alun Walker dot it down for Chinnor’s opening score with the conversion just drifting wide.
The Moseley restart saw the ball recycled by Chinnor and George Worboys breaking through from a ruck and passing to Oliver Curry for Chinnor’s second try.
Another restart saw Moseley regain possession and moving the ball wide until an intercept by Grant Hughes led to him running clear and scoring under the posts for another converted try.
Within 10 minutes, another Chinnor line break saw the ball passed to Hughes for his second and the Try Bonus point! Another Moseley infringement gave away a penalty, and from Chinnor’s tap and go, Worboys was released to score his first try of the day under the posts – converted.
Into half time, Chinnor was leading by 40 points to Nil.
Moseley came out from halftime with renewed effort and the wind in their favour but again made no progress against Chinnor’s defence. Chinnor ghosted through the Moseley defence and passed down the line with an overlap for Worboys to chalk up his second converted try.
Within 2 minutes, slick handling and offloads from Chinnor saw William Feeney dotting down for a try and again converted by Worboys.
At full-time, the score stood at Chinnor 52 – Moseley 0, along with a promotion to the Championship secured with 107 points – 9 points ahead of Chinnor’s nearest rivals, Reading Rams on 98, with Chinnor still having a game in hand.
The RFU presented Chinnor with the National One Champions Cup amidst huge celebrations on the pitch, joined by Nick Easter (DoR), team staff, club committee, and the huge number of fans and many other club players from Kites to juniors who’d travelled to support the lads.
Celebrations continued at the club in Thame late into the night after the players were welcomed back to rapturous applause.
The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players.
