CHINNOR’S hopes of extending their lead in National 2 South were dashed when held to a 13-13 draw by hosts Taunton Titans.

It was, indeed, a titanic contest between two in-form teams

In a tight first half, the hosts took the game to the leaders and were rewarded with a penalty after three minutes by full back Gary Kingdom.

With Chinnor flanker Alex Waddingham sin-binned for not retreating ten metres, the hosts failed to take several chances to stretch their lead.

Chinnor’s fly half Sam Angell levelled the scores with a penalty on the half-hour, but they were again reduced to 14 men on the stroke of half-time when former Exeter Chief and Cornish Pirate Junior Fatialofa was shown the yellow card.

Despite being a man down, Chinnor broke the deadlock when their pack pressed on the Titans line, eventually leading to a try from back row Tom Burns, converted by Angell.

Although CJ Osazuwa became their third player to be sin-binned, the visitors extended their lead to ten points when Angell kicked a penalty.

Taunton upped the pace and Kingdom closed the gap with a second penalty.

The Titans then forced a mistake, which allowed winger Richard Bright to race around under the posts to score. Kingdom added the conversion to draw level.

Henley Hawks had to settle for two bonus points as they lost 31-24 at Barnstaple.

An outstanding individual try by fly half Joe Butler, which he converted, gave Henley an early 7-0 lead.

But poor tackling allowed the Devon side to go 14-7 ahead with tries from full back Will Topps and scrum half Jordan Petherbridge, who converted both.

Hawks pulled back when hooker Stuart Philpott was driven over for an unconverted try, but Petherbridge’s penalty put the hosts 17-12 ahead at half-time.

The second half started well for Henley, who regained the lead when lock Jake Albon was driven over for a try converted by Butler.

Barnstaple won the game with further tries from centre Jake Murphy and No 8 Nat Bayet, the latter after influential Henley flanker Tom Hall had been yellow-carded. Luke Berry added both conversions.

Henley went in search of a four-try bonus point and achieved it when young prop Zaki Chamnaoiu went over for his second score of the season.