Williams frustrated by '˜too many mistakes' after Chinnor slump to Redruth defeat

Chinnor were flying at the top of National League Two South after starting the season with 10 successive victories, however just two wins in the next seven games, including three defeats and two draws, has seen them slip to third.

“We made far too many mistakes and some of our decision-making was poor,” said a frustrated Williams after Saturday’s defeat.

“I was especially disappointed with our line-out. We let chances slip away at crucial moments but fair play to Redruth who deserved the win. We will look to regroup and put right what went wrong.”

Chinnor made a number of changes to the side that drew with Henley last time out. Player-coach Richard Thorpe came back in at openside, Tom Burns returned at number 8 and Basil Strang made his Chinnor debut at fly-half.

On a cloudy but dry day, the visitors started brightly but soon found themselves trailing when Reds winger Lewis Vinnicombe broke through and timed his pass perfectly for scrum half Jack Oulton to go in under the posts. Full-back Brett Rule converted.

Chinnor pressed again but coughed up two successive line-outs five metres from the Redruth line before they were rocked by another long range score when winger Alex Ducker gathered his own kick from the ten-metre line. Rule again converted and Chinnor were 14-0 down inside 15 minutes.

Debutant Strang and Brett Rule both missed penalty attempts before Redruth scored a crucial third try just before the break. Quick ball from a line-out saw Reds replacement Shaun Buzza break a tackle to make the line. Rule added the extras and Redruth were all but out of sight at 21-0.

Bevon Armitage came on for Junior Fatialofa at half-time but there was no let up from Redruth when Joel Matavesi wriggled over in the corner for their try bonus point.

Shortly after Chinnor were caught in possession on their 22 and Angus Taylor did the necessary to give Redruth an unassailable 29-0 lead after 50 minutes.

In the final quarter, Chinnor salvaged some pride with two tries by Steve Castle and Luke Hibberd. The latter was started by a great run from Tom Price and converted by Basil Strang to leave the final score 29-12.

Elsewhere, Bishop’s Stortford were surprisingly beaten at home by Cinderford allowing Old Elthamians to go top with their win at Clifton.

Chinnor stay in third place, five points off top, and it’s another West Country trip for The Villagers this weekend to relegation-threatened Barnstaple.