Chinnor 64 – 22 Wimbledon

After the game the Chinnor management expressed surprise that Wimbledon were rooted at the foot of the league table, as have most of the opposition they’ve played this season. The reason Dons are winless is quite simply the huge injury count, lengthened again on Saturday by the loss before the game of hooker Ben Brooks with a broken finger and his replacement Matt Ringer to concussion early in the game. Back rower Joe Dale gamely filled the position. And this was on top of four changes from last week in the pack starting line-up, plus a new centre pairing and a couple of positional changes. With such an unsettled, untried side, it was always going to be tough taking on the league leaders – and so it proved. But Dons started with real intent and took an early lead after a fine driving maul set up wing (normally scrum half) Harry Tabb for a try.

The unsurprisingly muddled defence however, plus too many missed tackles and Chinnor’s all-round strength then allowed the home team to dominate long periods of the game, racking up 64 unanswered points – until the final period that is, when Dons set a target of at least a try bonus point. Replacement prop James Gillespie got one and wing Josh Charles another, but try as they did, the fourth eluded them.

Despite the difference between the sides, there were some outstanding individual Wimbledon performances - flanker Dom Rice in particular being singled out by the management – and the team spirit was and still is excellent. They know that with a full settled side they can live with the best in this league and are aiming to do just that in the second half of the season.

The league takes a break next weekend, and the following week Wimbledon are at home to second-placed Cinderford.