By Paul Smith 
Coventry’s power-packed bench provided the second-half impetus which delivered a bonus-point win from a thrilling end-to-end contest at Chinnor.
Cov’s ended their first visit to South Oxfordshire as victors by six tries to five and on a day when referee Hamish Grant showed four yellow cards and awarded a penalty try, a crowd of over 2000 was royally entertained at Kingsey Road.
Skipper Jordon Poole, Daf Tiueti, Toby Trinder, Dan Green and Mackenzie Graham scored tries for the visitors while Mr Grant awarded the Blue-and-Whites their third seven-pointer of the season on the stroke of an interval which arrived with an unlikely 24-all scoreline.
Tom Watson, Luke Carter and Rob Hardwick – son of Cov’s namesake former international prop – gave the hosts an early 24-10 lead before Cameron Rafferty and Kieran Goss claimed the second-half touchdowns that took the home side within a missed touchline conversion of two bonus points.
Despite playing with a strong wind Coventry saw very little of the home 22 during an opening half-hour in which they paid on the scoreboard for every mistake made.
This trend began in the first minute when Watson finished a 60-metre counter-attack featuring a strong carry from flanker Max Clementson.
Cov were quickly on terms when teenage lock Green applied an easy finish to Poole’s charge-down of home no.10 Nathan Chamberlain,
Chinnor’s fly-half then slotted a simple penalty and with Tom Ball in the sin bin the home side quickly sent Carter over from close-range for their second try.
Cov fly-half Tommy Mathews, who finished the match with 13 points through a perfect six-from-six display from the tee, slotted a penalty only for Chinnor to shunt Hardwick over after a series of pick-and-drives.
Trailing by 14 points, the visitors needed a swift response and they got it when their pack first drove Trinder to the line from a five-metre lineout and were then awarded a penalty try on the stroke of half-time when the sin bin-bound Grant Hughes illegally prevented a repeat performance.
By this point Cov prop Billy Nairau and Chinnor centre Watson had both already seen yellow for a high tackle and illegal fend respectively and as a result the visitors began the second-half with a 14-13 numerical advantage.
And Alex Rae’s team took full advantage with a bonus-point-clinching try-of-the-season contender launched by Tom Hitchcock under his own posts and extravagantly finished by Poole 90 metres later.
After Chamberlain slotted his second penalty of the afternoon, Tiueti’s third try of the season gave the visitors some breathing space for the first time only for Rafferty to bring Chinnor back within one-score range when he touched down a lineout drive.
On-loan Bath forward Graham then gave the Cov faithful a glimpse of his pace when, after being put into space, he stepped his way to the home posts for try number six.
Despite being denied by some good defence from Charlie Robson it was Chinnor who had the last word through the deserving Goss whose reward for causing plenty of defensive problems throughout the contest was a last-minute score in the corner.
Line-Ups:
Chinnor: Bourton (Smith 63); Hughes, Watson, Passman, Goss; Chamberlain, Carter (Pascoe 53); Lines (Onasanya 53), Moore (Walker 53), Hardwick (Doak 70); Ryan (Green 39 ), Shaw (Hall 39); Dugmore, Clementson, Rafferty
Replacements: Rokodrava
Coventry: Trotter (Robson 43); Opoku (Salt 39-43), Tiueti, Hitchcock, Henry; Mathews, Barton (Maunder 43); Trinder (Warren 54), Poole (Biggs 54), Nairau (Salt 52-68); Tyas, Green (Graham 52); Ball, Ma’asi (Hinkley 43), Owen
Replacements: Mannion
Referee: Hamish Grant
Half-Time: Chinnor 24-24 Coventry
Attendance: 2142
Scorers:
Chinnor:
Tries: Watson (1), Carter (20), Hardwick (26), Rafferty (55), Goss (80)
Conversions: Chamberlain (1) (20) (26)
Penalties: Chamberlain (9) (48)
Coventry:
Penalty Try (40)
Tries: Green (7), Trinder (32) Poole (43), Tiueti (53), Graham (63),
Conversions: Mathews (7) (32) (43) (53) (63)
Penalties: Mathews (22)
