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The Build Up : Our Opponents - Amersham & Chiltern RFC
Taking a closer look at Saturday's opposition
Old Priorians are on the road once again this Saturday, lining up against Amersham and Chiltern RFC at Ash Grove, a 2pm kick off in Regional 2 Thames.
They were formed in December of 1924 originally as Chiltern Rugby Club, playing near Amersham Common and then Copperkins Lane in their formative years, which still forms part of the current facilities on Weedon Lane. It was in 1992 that Chiltern RFC then became Amersham and Chiltern RFC, with the advent of the newly founded Chesham RFC ; they had previously joined the leagues in 1987.
The current 1st XV captain is Josh Finch, with Rich Hoskins the Head Coach. Peter Kenyon is President and Huw Jones the chairman. The club's most famous alumni is probably Josh Lewsey, who played at Amersham at youth level before having an illustrious professional career, winning 55 caps for England and being part of the World Cup winning squad in 2003, as well as representing the British and Irish Lions thrice on the 2005 tour to New Zealand.
Amersham and Chiltern have risen as high as Level 5, achieving their best ever finish of 5th in National League 3 South West in the 2013/14 season. They have spent most of the last decade vacillating between this level and level 6, having previously played in London 1 North before Regional 2 Thames came as part of an RFU restructure.
Since 1998/99, the club's biggest win came against Chingford in December 2015, winning 85-5 in London 1 North in a season where they promoted as champions. The biggest loss was to Bournemouth in 2011, the final score 85-14 in National League 3 South West.
There is plenty of recent history between OPs and Amersham, having played each other eight times previously, all in London 1 North. OPRFC have two wins to Amersham's six, though the most recent fixture was a 34-12 victory for OPs at Ash Grove in December 2019. The average full time score is 34-22 in favour of ACRFC.
You can find match reports for three of the games between the two via the link below :
Team news and a match preview to follow tomorrow.