Even though they were leading at the break, courtesy of a score from David Williams on his 150th appearance for Nottingham, the Archers let the game get away from them during the second half as Chinnor ran in five unanswered tries, three of which were while Ryan Olowofela was off the field having received a yellow card. A late consolation from Antonio Harris gave the visitors a bonus point but that was scant comfort as Chinnor ran out 41-22 winners.
The Oxfordshire outfit’s Director of Rugby Nick Easter described it as “The best half of rugby of our season. We were unlucky to go in at half time behind as I thought we had played well and had put Nottingham under extreme pressure. We didn’t let our heads go down and produced a scintillating 40 minutes.”
However, it was first blood to Nottingham as, after 10 minutes, Harry Clayton touched down at the back of a powerful maul from a lineout in the corner.
Nathan Chamberlain, who was perfect from the tee all evening, reduced the arrears for the home side with a penalty at the midpoint of the first half before winger Grant Hughes was sent to the sin bin. In contrast to Chinnor later in the game, Nottingham were unable to make the numerical advantage count and there was no further scoring until the dying moments of the half.
Chamberlain edged his team ahead from another penalty but there was just time for the restart, which was fumbled by the Villagers, and Williams was able to pounce to make the halftime score Chinnor 6-12 Nottingham.
The Archers extended their lead not long after the restart after a series of powerful drives sucked in the Chinnor defence and that created room for Olowofela to skip past an attempted tackle and run in.
But it was largely one way traffic thereafter as Luke Carter grabbed the first of his two tries, then, with the Nottingham full back off the field Carter doubled his tally alongside efforts from Chamberlain and Hughes.
Olowofela’s reintroduction could do little to stem the tide as the Vilagers’ winger then notched his second of the evening.
The Archers pushed for a further try after Harris’s consolation but Dan Cooke stole the ball at a lineout for Chinnor to put an end to proceedings.