Chinnor 30, Oxford Harlequins 22

Two late tries saw Chinnor edge an entertaining National 3 South West derby at Kingsey Road.

In a match that swung both ways more than once, Chinnor came on strong to earn a league double over their local rivals.

With eight tries and plenty of incident, this was a great advert for local rugby, although Quins will be disappointed not to have kept their focus late on.

Fly half James Cathcart, on his return from injury, put Chinnor ahead with a fifth-minute penalty, having earlier missed a long-range effort.

Scrum half Toby Prescott was a constant threat for Chinnor, but Quins had the more cohesive back line.

On 23 minutes, Chinnor centre Matt Goode took a quick line-out, but lost the ball and the visitors recycled well to send young wing Harry Burn scorching in to score.

Three minutes later, Quins centre Xavier Andre received the ball in his own half and, out of nothing, roasted the home defence to score under the posts, fly half Jeff Stewart converting.

Quins had hardly settled when Goode forced his way over on the right after Prescott and full back Ricky Hopwood split open the defence.

On 32 minutes, Chinnor created an overlap and centre James Serrano did well to take prop Joe Winpenny’s pass and power over for Cathcart to convert.

Cathcart missed another penalty, while Andre fumbled as he sniffed a second try.

Chinnor went close to a pushover try before the break, but No 8 Ed Rixon could not ground the ball.

However, Cathcart’s second penalty made it 18-12 just after the interval.

On 47 minutes, Chinnor tried to run the ball out of their own 22, but lock Andy Smith’s loose pass put them in trouble and Burn hacked ahead and beat Serrano to the touchdown.

Serrano was injured in the chase and his absence from midfield proved key to Quins’ next try, which came before Chinnor could get replacement Mark Chase on.

As it was, Quins moved the ball to the left, giving Andre an easy run-in for his try brace.

The visitors came very close to a fifth try, but wing Huw Jones was just forced out on the right.

Chinnor had the edge at the set-piece, but had to defend for long periods.

With 15 minutes left, Cathcart looked set to score on the right, but he lost the ball as he tried to avoid stepping into touch.

Stewart was guilty of a few knock-ons and one inside his 22 ultimately proved decisive on 70 minutes.

From the scrum, Chinnor went wide and wing Richard Williams squeezed over for 23-22.

Chinnor dominated the territory in the closing stages, without really cutting through.

However, from the final play, Prescott raced in for the try his impressive play deserved, Cathcart converting.

Chinnor: Hopwood, Green, Goode, Serrano (Chase 48), R Williams, Cathcart, Prescott, Stock (Pickett 61), Cawston, Winpenny (capt), Jackman, Smith, Vickers, Hastings (Rixon [blood 74-78]), Rixon (Mowbray 61).

Oxford Harlequins: Crapper, Burn, Andre, Newman (Noyce [blood] 19-24), Jones, Stewart, Todd, Chadbone (capt) (Eckert 58), Clark (Chadbone 65), Barlow (DeLange 58), Purchase, Boyle, Young, Knapp, Welburn.

Referee: R Bennett (Bucks).

Man-of-the-match: Prescott.