Chineham 17-15 Lymington
The Lions emerged victorious from a tight encounter at Alton RFC against Lymington yesterday.
Chineham started strongly, number 8 Chris Dorling giving the ‘hosts’ strong field position to allow outside center Seb Ratcliffe to break the line and time his pass beautifully to winger Ben Goodman, who beat two men to finish strongly in the corner, Adam Lincoln adding the extras from out wide to give Chineham the perfect start.
Chineham continued to dominate territory but struggled to put phases together to extend their lead. This led to Lymington turning over and winning a penalty which they converted to get on the board. The first half continued to follow the pattern of good territory for the Lions, but they were only able to add to their score late in the half with a perfectly weighted box kick from scrum half Malachi Burton allowing fullback Jack Soper to gather and score, bringing the half to a close with Chineham 12-3 up.
The second half started strongly, with fly-half Matt Lingham making a strong break through the middle after good hands from Lincoln, with Soper on hand to apply the finishing touches again, extending the lead to 17-3. The visitors used the set piece as a platform to work their way back into the game, with frequent penalties and turnovers allowing them to assert some territorial dominance, leading to an unconverted score and closing the gap to 7 points.
As the half continued Chineham struggled to play the game in the opposition half, and a loose kick led to another Lymington score out wide, closing the gap to a nervy 2. After missed penalty attempts from both teams, second-row Sam Athroll secured the winning turnover at the lineout, allowing Burton to hoof it off and secure the win for the Lions!