CHINNOR head coach Jason Bowers spoke of his pride at the campaign so far as he looked ahead to Saturday’s play-off.

Bowers’s side host National 3 London runners-up Tonbridge Juddians for the right to play in National 2 South next season.

Chinnor won 11 more points than Tonbridge during a superb campaign that featured 23 wins from 26 matches.

“It is the end of an impressive league season and one that I am extremely proud of,” said Bowers.

“We are very confident going into next week. We are very much aiming to play in the league above next season.

“We are big-game club that enjoy big games and we will look forward to this one.”

Chinnor’s only defeats came by margins of three and one point, while there was plenty of tension during their run-in – especially in the crunch games against Bournemouth and Redingensians.

Bowers said: “I have never experienced in my life as a coach so many pressure games, one after another.

“You normally have one or two sides that run away with the league, but Redingensians have been on our tail throughout.

“The top three sides in our league have played some really impressive rugby, which shows the quality there is at level five.”

Although the Tonbridge game comes down to a straight shoot-out, Bowers believes Chinnor can take heart from some impressive stats during the season.

Fly half and kicker James Cathcart topped the National 3 South West scoring charts with 301 points – 88 conversions, 40 penalties and one try.

In the try standings, wings Pip Seymour (23) and Mark Chase (22), No 8 Liam Gilbert (22) and centre Matt Goode (19) finished second, joint fifth and seventh respectively.

Bowers said: “Our total of 114 points would have probably have won the league in most years.

“We also had the top kicker in James Cathcart and four of the top seven try-scorers.”

  • CATHCART was named Chinnor Gourmet Club player of the season on Saturday.