Chobham earned their first win of the season with an impressive 54-15 victory at home to Ellingham & Ringwood in Regional Two South Central.

Chobham welcomed newly-promoted Ellingham & Ringwood to Fowler’s Wells. With both teams looking for a first win of the season it was always likely to be an entertaining affair, and so it proved.

Chobham made a very bright start, with a running return of the visitors’ kick off that took them deep into opposition territory. A well-worked line out followed by some powerful centre play created enough space for Sam Goddard to rampage over the line for an early score. Sam Davies made the conversion.

The visitors charged back at Chobham from the kick-off but their good work was immediately undermined when Noah Jenkins intercepted and raced 60 metres to score. Davies duly converted and Chobham were 14-0 up with just six minutes gone.

However, Ellingham & Ringwood once again launched themselves at Chobham straight from the restart. A line-out trundle deep in the Chobham half resulted in a quickly taken penalty from which the classy Jeffes scored.

Minutes later, a midfield fumble by the visitors was seized upon by Noah Williamson who dashed over the line to make the score 21-5 with barely a quarter of the game gone.

The bonus point was claimed on just 26 minutes when Goddard lolloped over after good recycling work from a midfield scrum. Davies, deadly with the boot all day, duly converted to take Chobham into a 28-5 lead.

Undaunted, Ellingham & Ringwood continued to pressure the Chobham set piece and a scrum won against the head led to a try for the lively scrumhalf, Veneroso. A half-time score of 28-10 might have been a fair reflection of the play but, just before the break, Goddard found Davies with an exquisite pass to rampage over the line and under the posts to take the score to 35-10.

The early stages of the second half found Chobham exerting pressure deep in the visitors’ territory.

On 46 minutes, a fluffed Ellingham & Ringwood clearance kick was fielded by Mawhood who put winger Jenkins away to score in the corner. Despite the tally, E&R battled on manfully, particularly up front where loose-head prop, Ajiboye, was excellent.

On 55 minutes, Chobham, weakened by the loss of the gargantuan Hargan to a yellow card for failing to avoid a leading elbow, conceded a pushover try at a five-metre scrum to make the score 40-15.

Chobham, for whom the midfield dynamo Tommy Reed combined exceptionally well with the elegant Davies, continued to make the pace as the visitors’ forwards tired. Rhys Tulk was the beneficiary when he raced over on 60 minutes to make the score 47-15.

Chobham started to pile on the pressure, despite the loss of Jenkins who received a yellow card for failing to roll away at a ruck. There was time to round off a thoroughly convincing performance when hat-trick hero Goddard went over for the final try to make the score 54-15.

Chobham had produced a thoroughly enterprising performance to claim the victory. However, with five yellow cards and a red card in their past three games, Chobham still tend to demonstrate a capacity for self-destruction that may came to haunt them as the season draws on.

By Tim Connolly