Chipstead 6
Old Whitgiftians 9

There was disappointment etched on the faces of the Chipstead team at the end of their Surrey Shield match against Old Whitgiftians last Saturday.

They had come so close to winning a place in next Sunday's final of this knock-out competition. But in spite of gaining the lion's share of both territory and possession, the home side had succumbed to a less than convincing performance by the OWs.

The Whitgiftians, having won the Surrey 2 league championship the previous week, were perhaps a little tired, and a little complacent.

And the blazing sunshine and bone hard pitch certainly weren't conducive to energetic and enterprising rugby.

Whitgift's lighter pack certainly held its own in the set pieces, but both team's outsides were having difficulty putting together sustained passing movements.

Good defence, combined with a succession of handling errors, meant that the runners on both sides rarely made significant progress.

Chipstead reacted more effectively to this impasse and used some excellent long range tactical kicking to constantly pin their opponents back deep into their own half.

With territorial advantage, and both sides infringing frequently, Chipstead capitalised on their opportunities and kicked a couple of penalty goals to give them a 6-0 lead.

In the second half Whitgiftians began to adopt the kicking for territory strategy as well, and were rewarded with two penalty goals themselves, both well struck by centre Barrett Bloxham.

With 12 minutes of the match remaining Bloxham kicked his third penalty, giving the OWs the lead for the first time.

Chipstead saw their place in next week's final slipping away and threw everything into a last surge of attack. The closing minutes of the match saw them camped on their opponents' line, with Whitgift defending desperately. In fact Chipstead crossed the line twice, but on the first occasion the ball was dropped, and on the second there had been a previous knock on.

After five minutes of injury time the referee finally brought the game to a close, with Whitgiftians jubilant and exhausted, and Chipstead drooped with disappointment.

The final of the Surrey Shield competition will kick off at 2 pm next Sunday, 29 April, at Met. Police ground, Imber Court, Thames Ditton.