Chippenham RFC U16’s v Supermarine U16’s – D&W Cup

Chippenham put in a comprehensive performance beating a determined Supermarine 62-0 in the D&W Cup.

With all the rubbish weather and various injuries, I’m sorry to say that this is the first match report of 2018. Really poor performance from the match reporter... Anyway, on Sunday it was a pleasure to welcome Supermarine for the league stages of the D&W Cup. As we have just started half-term, both sides had players away although Chippenham did have 4 on the bench whereas Supermarine had only 13 players. To even things up, thanks go to Ben B and Morgan who offered to play for the blues in the first half and then Charlie and George who swapped sides in the second half. This is much appreciated and ensured an even sided match, well certainly as far as the numbers taking part. Thankfully the sun put in an appearance but so did a troublesome strong wind that blew directly down the pitch and made passing a bit tricky. Warm up completed and the excellent D&W Referee got the game under way.

Chippenham kicked off and played into the gale for the first half. It took both sides a bit of time to control the passing and a number of knock-ons resulted in a bit of scrum fest, which Chippenham were happy with as they dominated this area of the match. From one such scrum, the ball fed out to the impressive Will and after a mazy run, he passed to Ben W who crashed over for the opening try. The conversion was missed into the gale, as were all the kicks during the match apart from a lovely drop goal by someone but more on that later. It doesn’t help when one of your usual kickers is off playing Cricket for Wiltshire in Sri Lanka and the other one is skiing. Regardless, from another scrum, Ben W repeated the trick and barged over for his second try 10-0. Next Archie broke through some slack tackles and he scored 15-0. Supermarine attempted some good attacks but were soon halted and then good play from Isaac and Josh laid the ball on for Tom P to unleash the hand off and after fending off half the team, he scored 20-0. Next on the scoresheet after some excellent hands, pace and strength for the Chippenham lads, it was Matthew who drove over 25-0. Chippenham then lost a bit of focus and became careless with the handling of the game until Will and Tom C in the Centre put some directness back. From yet another scrum, George pinged a great pass to Issac who did the old inside/outside before passing onto the advancing Tom C and no one was stopping him. George attempted this conversion and managed to hit the post, so we were getting closer. 30-0. The forwards were having a field day and great hands from Hugo, Joel and Owen with the latter making some massive clear-outs, soon created space for Tom C to carve a lovely line and lay on a perfect pass for Ben S to score a try. This time, Archie strode up to have a go at converting and succeeded with a brilliant drop goal. Who says Props cant kick!! 37-0. Supermarine mounted a number of attacks and got very close to scoring in the bottom corner but when Chippenham won the ball back, they decided to run it from touchline to touchline and soon the explosive pace of Will saw him score a lovely try. The Referee blew for half time and the match was 42-0.

Both sides were refreshed and George and Charlie swapped into the Supermarine Blue but it didnt take long before Chippenham got back into the swing and good hands resulted in Euan scoring a nice try in the corner 47-0. Next a lovely offload from Archie created loads of space for Will to steam through and score 52-0. At this point the game had been won by Chippenham but the Supermarine lads still wanted to play on, which says a lot about their determination and spirit. However it was Chippenham who scored 2 more tries, one by Joel and yet another from the impressive Will. After this, a Supermarine player was injured and required medical attention. It was great to call upon Clare, the CRFC Club Physio and she offered her professional assistance until the ambulance arrived. Understandably, the Referee blew for full time and the game ended 62-0 to Chippenham. We are still awaiting news on the Supermarine player but we all wish him a speedy recovery.

Thanks go to all the Supermarine players and coaches for making the trip down the M4 and we wish them well for the season ahead. Next week Chippenham travel up the road and have a friendly away at Cirencester.