It was a very special day as Chippenham ran out on the new AGP for the first time and completed the day with a win over Windsor by 41-24 and included a hat-trick from the impressive Charlie Palmer.

After the one point loss away at Beaconsfield last week, it was a very determined Chippenham who regrouped on Saturday and it was good to welcome Matt Dickens, Joe Thomas and Charlie Palmer back into the fold after injury. The weather was perfect with clear skies and a gentle breeze for this Wadworth South West 1 East League match. Windsor won the toss and elected to kick off the game, playing from left to right from the clubhouse.

The early stages showed how Windsor had set out to play and they kept the ball loose on the fantastic AGP surface. Their handling was impressive and soon they crashed over near the posts to score the opening try, which was converted and not quite the start Chippenham had planned. 0-7. It didn’t take long for the Chippenham team to get into their stride with storming runs from Ed Hendy, Nat Parkes and Oli Alcorn which built pressure, resulting in Windsor conceding a penalty, easily converted by the consistent Tom Douglas. 3-7.
Chippenham had their game plan and started to shine with slick, flowing rugby which saw the impressive Taff Hussain score a lovely try, converted by Douglas and this was soon followed by a further try from the dynamic Palmer although no extras were added. 15-7. The home side were really getting into their stride and another sweeping move from the backs, with great control from Fly-Half Tom Fogerty saw the ball out to the flying Winger James Cook and he scored a lovely try in the corner. Douglas was successful with the conversion from a wide angle, leaving it at 22-7 and a few more tries could/should have been scored but passes to the flying winger, Alex Christopher just didn’t stick. Before the Referee blew for half-time, Windsor mounted a number of solid attacks which resulted in Chippenham conceding an offside penalty that was kicked for the points and the half finished 22-10.

Windsor started the 2nd half with real intent and direct running from their Centres which produced a skilful try through some ineffective Chippenham defence and closed the gap to 22-17. This spurred on Chippenham and they focused on the task ahead and the next attack saw Palmer score his second try and the bonus point try for the team. The extras were missed but this didn’t matter as Chippenham started to swarm all over Windsor with the forwards making loads of ground and earning an attacking scrum, 5m from the Windsor line. It was then a lovely move off the base of the scrum and Palmer crashed over again for his hat-trick try!! The extras were added by the large boot of Alcorn who had taken over kicking duties and stretching the lead to 34-17.

Respect to Windsor as they chased the game and a possible bonus point and soon their efforts produced another impressive try which was converted 34-24. The game got slightly bogged down as both teams gave everything on a warm day but the introduction of Jack Smith as Chippenham replacement had the desired effect as this upped the pace of the game and soon a lovely chip ahead from Smith was regathered and he scored a lovely try. Alcorn got the extras and Chippenham opened up a gap to 41-24.

Both sides thrived on the AGP surface in the final stages of the match but solid defence resulted in no further scores before the excellent Referee blew for full-time and draw the curtains on a cracking match between 2 determined sides.

Next Saturday Chippenham have another home match and welcome Marlborough RFC to Allington Fields.