THORNBURY recovered from a shaky start to cast aside Bideford and secure a play-off place for promotion to National Three South West.

Thorns scored four tries in the first 15 minutes of the second half to put the result beyond doubt.

They will now play Salisbury on Saturday with the winner promoted.

Bideford kicked off and after even early stages the bigger Bideford forwards began to disrupt the scrums and lineouts, denying Thornbury possession.

Thorns’ nerves continued throughout the first quarter of the game and things looked distinctly dodgy.

But they took control as the second quarter began. Jak Evans and Alfie Richardson were tackled close to the line, then with a Bideford forward in the sin-bin Thorns pounced.

Centre Dai Matthews burst through three tackles on a powerful run to score by the posts. Tom Luke converted and Thorns were on their way.

A few minutes later Thornbury doubled their lead. A bad pass saw the ball go to ground but Richardson picked up the ball, slipped a tackle and raced through to score by the posts. Luke converted for 14-0.

As half-time approached, Bideford scored a good try that went unconverted, but Thornbury struck again on the stroke of half-time.

Skipper Liam Pemberton crashed over in the corner for a well-worked try following a number of phases in midfield. Luke’s fine touchline conversion brought up a 21-5 half-time lead.

Thornbury kicked off the second half and it took just 70 seconds for them to secure the all-important try bonus point.

Wayne Underwood and Rob Higgitt created space, which Richardson exploited and then raced away on a 40-metre sprint.

He was tackled close to the line but offloaded to Rich Bennett in support and he dived over for a fine try. With the bonus point in the bag, Thorns needed to make sure the game was won, and Luke kicked a penalty to extend the lead to 29-5.

Bideford tried to move the ball but Thorns put pressure on them, forcing mistakes. A handling error gave Evans the chance to gather the ball and race in for an opportunist try, then a few minutes later the scrum-half broke from a ruck on the Bideford 10-metre line and raced in for a second try.

Luke converted both and Thorns were out of sight at 43-5.

Then Luke chipped the ball over the Bideford defence, gathered it and sprinted in from 40 metres. He converted his try for 50-5.

Bideford secured their second try before James Wood drove over from a lineout for Thornbury’s last try.

Luke converted, then added a penalty in between two consolation tries for Bideford, which earned the visitors a try bonus point.

But Thornbury had won and achieved what they had needed to, recovering from a nervous start to rip Bideford apart in the second half. There were excellent contributions from every player, but the dominant performance came from Luke, who scored 25 points.