CHOSEN HILL FP 5 HORNETS 25

The weather was fine and sunny but the pitch was very heavy after weeks of relentless rain and snow and Chosen, having won the toss elected to play down the slope. It looked like their decision would pay dividends when after just two minutes outside half Andy King put a grubber kick through the visitors defence and centre Josh Pettifer beat the cover only to knock-on over the line as he tried to pounce on the bouncing ball.

Minutes later King was yellow carded for leading with the shoulder in a tackle but Hornets were unable to benefit from the resulting penalty, however they opened the scoring with a penalty goal after ten minutes when Chosen were adjudged to have deliberately knocked on.

After fifteen minutes the warning signs of what was to come saw Hornets heavy pack drive a maul a full thirty metres to score near the corner but the conversion was missed and a second unconverted try a few minutes later increased their lead to 13 – 0. A stalemate period of twenty minutes then took the match to half-time.

Ten minutes into the second half Hornets, using the full width of the pitch, attacked down the left wing and a try looked a certainty but a great cover tackle from full-back Matt Elston knocked the ball from the Hornets winger’s grasp as he looked to ground it over the line.

Hornets lost their centre to the bin but Chosen were unable to score from the resulting penalty line-out and with the visitors back up to full strength Chosen had flanker Tom Gyde binned for side-entry at a ruck. To their credit, the home side, who had firmed up their defensive effort, kept the visitors out but minutes after Gyde’s return they conceded a third try to the now rampant Hornets.

At 20- 0 down and with just fifteen minutes left things looked bleak for Chosen but they managed to conjure up a try of their own when good initial work from the forwards drew in the Hornets cover and then allowed the backs to shift the ball out to replacement winger Marcus Ballard who raced over in the corner. King’s conversion attempt hit the upright and bounced back in-field.

Chosen then lost skipper and number eight Ian Riddel to the sin bin and Hornets bagged their unconverted bonus point try with the final move of the match.

A disappointing result for Chosen after their recent run of good form but Hornets are the runaway league leaders and if the bounce of the ball had been kinder Chosen could have kept the score a lot closer.

Next week Chosen travel to Berry Hill for a league match re-arranged from earlier in the season.