National 2 South
Chinnor 13, Taunton Titans 7

TAUNTON Titans headed to Chinnor to try and break the home side's 24-month unbeaten home record but fell just short of toppling the league leaders.

With greasy conditions it was Chinnor that made the perfect start, going over in the corner after just two minutes through winger Phil Chesters, but the conversion by former Cornish Pirate John Bentley was missed.

Bentley made amends 10 minutes later when he kicked a penalty in front of the posts to give Chinnor an eight-point lead. 

The rest of the half was the Titans' attack against Chinnor's defence, and it was the defence that had the upper hand, with the Titans making too many mistakes with the ball in hand to allow the home side to clear their lines.

Taunton were making line breaks and forcing the home side back, and as the half drew to a close the visitors had one more chance to get some points in the first half, but only a couple of metres from the try line the ball was knocked on and the half time whistle blown.

It was once again the home side that started the brightest after the restart, claiming their second try - once again scored wide out, this time by winger Jamel Hamilton, and again Bentley missed the conversion.

With still 30 minutes left to play Taunton went on the attack to try and close the gap and managed to control the ball a lot more, but again failed to capitalise on the pressure.

After a couple of warnings from the referee for the home side, the Titans managed to force their way over, with prop James Kenny on the end of some fine forward drives.

Toby East converted from a wide angle to bring Taunton to one converted try behind. 

The Titans now had the upper hand but several poor lineouts close to the opposition line where they could have forced their way over helped Chinnor relieve the pressure and close the game out.

Taunton will be disappointed with their performance after coming so close to claiming the Chinnor home record, especially as it was their own mistakes that were their downfall.

The Titans coaches can take some positives out of the game, with Jack Claydon starting his first game in over 18 months and Paul Davis getting better and better each week, after both had long layoffs with injuries.

Taunton face their third big test in as many weeks, when they host second-placed Cinderford next weekend, and they will be desperate to keep the leading two in their sights.

Taunton Titans: Rice, Fraser, Mason (Capt), East, Claydon, Webb Banks (Brown 48), Baker (Kenny 55), Spurdle (Francis 23), Dalton, England (Davis 35), Lugg (England 48), Harvey, Vakalutukali, Prior (Oliphant-Thompson 55).