Chester 18-8 Bournville

Chester began brightly, writes Des Hickie, applying pressure to the Bourneville line but, apart from a couple of early penalties from wing James Preston, had little to show for it after the first quarter. Then after 26 minutes No.8 Baxter broke right from a retreating scrum in the visitors’ 22. There followed a couple of phases from the forwards before centre Ben Ivory crashed over for a converted try.

At 13 -0 up Chester looked comfortable until Baxter was binned. This enabled Bourneville to apply some pressure, in particular from a dominant scrum which was their most potent weapon throughout. Three times they set up attacking positions in the home 22 but came away empty handed. Chester’s defensive line speed was proving too much for them - forcing handling errors and turnovers.

A heavy sleet shower early in the second half compounded Bourneville’s problems. They managed a penalty from Jacob Fewtrell, but following three hugely dominant scrums in the Chester 22, this looked like an admission of failure. Chester stretched their lead with a try from prop Josh Woods breaking from a lineout on the hour. Bourneville were finally rewarded with a soft interception try for winger Nathan Decalmer in the 77th minute.