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Chosen Hill end year-long wait for Counties 1 Western North win with victory over Old Redcliffians 2nds

Author: Roger Jackson, Posted: Monday, 15th December 2025, 15:00

Rich Planchant is head of rugby at Chosen Hill

The long wait is finally over for Chosen Hill.

Their excellent 34-10 win over Redcliffians 2nds on Saturday was their first in Counties 1 Western North for more than a year.

Their last success came on Saturday 29th November when they won 29-19 at Burnham-on-Sea, one of five victories they enjoyed in the league last season.

“It’s been a while,” admitted club chairman Stuart Coles. “But it’s a win that we feel has been coming.

“We’ve been improving but the results haven’t always reflected the performances.”

They remain bottom of the 12-strong table but there will be increased optimism ahead of their game at home to Gordano on Saturday.

Tries by Rob Panting, Alfie Howe, David Gamble, Tyler Cuthbert and Ryan Rennebach helped them to secure their bonus-point win over Old Reds and Coles added: “It never felt like it at the time but it was a relatively comfortable win in the end.

“We also had to play the last 60 minutes without Panting and Craig Thompson, who are two of our key players.

“I think we’re a better team than the results suggest and now that we’ve got this monkey off our back, hopefully we can relax, there is nothing worse than playing under pressure.”

And Coles believes that Chosen Hill, who still have 12 games to play, can avoid relegation.

“We’re not even halfway through, we’ve played 10 games,” he said. “If we can keep improving there’s no reason why we can’t go on a run.

“We definitely want to stay up, with some of the juniors and Colts coming through we’ve got a bright future, the Colts are flying.”

That's great news for the club and for head of rugby Rich Planchant, too, and Coles said: “He knows what he’s doing and what he wants to do.

“He’s a really, really good bloke, we’re lucky to have him.”

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Chosen Hill end year-long wait for Counties 1 Western North win with victory over Old Redcliffians 2nds

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