Blues impress – and banish fears of drop
Chichester 18
Tottonians 12
Regional 2 South Central
This was one of Chichester’s best performances of the season.
At times it wasn’t pretty but they stuck to their game plan, successfully defending their lead for 30 minutes in the second half before digging deep in the final 10 minutes to ensure victory.
The four points mean any fears of the Blues being dragged back into a relegation battle have passed.
Chichester made six changes to the team that beat Farnham last time out, with Callum Redding, Joe Shopland and Ben Polhill coming into the pack, Charlie Davies joining the backs and George Knight and Navitalai Vosanibole on the bench.
Despite heavy rain in the week the pitch was firm, aided by a breeze.
Under grey skies, watched by a balcony packed with post-lunch supporters, from the farming community, Chichester kicked off down the slope.
On five minutes an attempted breakout was penalised on halfway. Tom Blewitt, playing at fly half, put in a majestic kick that found touch on the 5m line.
Zac Conley soared to secure the ball at the lineout and Chichester’s forwards mauled forward with Richard Ives gaining the opening score.
It took the visitors another 10 minutes to mount their first substantive attack when they advanced the ball into the red zone from a scrum on halfway.
Having defended a series of pick and goes, Blues conceded a penalty in front of the posts but Tottonians recycled the ball, moving it out wide, to exploit a gap in the Chichester defence to score – 5-5.
The ball was moved back into the visitors’ half but a ‘no arms’ tackle saw Blues lose a man to the sinbin. Tottonians were unable to capitalise and on 28 minutes an altercation, after a ‘neck roll’ in the ruck, saw each side lose two to the sin bin.
Chichester extended their lead on 32 minutes when a clearance kick was charged down and Charlie Davies gathered the ball to score close to the posts, converted by Blewitt.
Another Tottonians infringement allowed Blewitt to extend the lead to 15-5 with his boot.
Tottonians started the second half with more purpose but handling errors and well-organised defence from both sides saw the game stagnate in the midfield.
On 70 minutes, Tottonians lost another player to the bin but promptly scored with a move that saw them exploit a missed tackle to score under the posts, converted for 15-12. The Chi task was made harder when they also lost a player to the sin bin but with five minutes left, Chichester went on the attack, stifling any hope Tottonians had of snatching victory at the death.
The visitors infringed and Blewitt slotted the three points before the referee blew for full time. A Tottonians’ player was shown a red card after the whistle.
MOM: Joel Andrews; Chichester go to Guildford on Saturday (3pm) – all support appreciated.