CHINNOR 88pts PENRYN 10pts - PENRYN returned from distant Oxfordshire after another heavy defeat in South West One.

Chinnor is situated 20 miles east of Oxford, and is the longest trip for a club that is putting more miles in to travel than Bristol, Bath or Saracens. In this modern world the RFU appear to pour money in to the coffers of our premier clubs but cannot spare a few pence to help lower clubs with overnight accommodation.

It costs the Borough £750 in hotel bills every time they have an overnight stop, and whilst Twickenham give a grant for travel this barely covers the cost of hiring people carriers' (a coach is too expensive and leads to longer journey times).

By the end of the season Borough will have made five trips to the far end of the South West Division, to clubs in Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire, and you don't need to be a mathematician to conclude that that is one large bill for a club strapped for cash.

The woes started on Friday when three players had to drop out, Justin Hocking with an injury, and both Kyle Mason and Ben Short with flu. Darren Pellow took over the left wing berth, but work commitments made it impossible for him to travel until early Saturday morning. At very short notice James Murray agreed to travel.

After Coach Simon Moyle's encouraging team talk in the hotel on Saturday morning, the game started well for the visitors. For the first 20 minutes they were on top, winning a great deal of lineout ball and bringing off some excellent threes moves. But apart from an early lead from a Dave Pascoe penalty goal, the Borough were kept from scoring by a very efficient and resolute Chinnor defence.

Full report in this week's issue..