Tribute South West One West League

Thornbury 13 Weston-super-Mare 33

THORNBURY lost their 23-month unbeaten home league record to a powerful Weston side that dominated the forward battle.

Tries either side of half time gave Weston an unassailable lead but the Thornbury players deserve great credit for a tenacious rear-guard action that made Weston battle for every point they scored.

The Thornbury side that took the field bore little resemblance to that selected earlier in the week.

Due to injuries and illness eight changes had to be made, including some switches of position. Against the biggest pack in the league, Thornbury’s eight was full of loose forwards.

Thorns made a hash of the kick off but began better and Tom Luke opened the scoring with an eighth-minute penalty. Weston went ahead when their full-back chipped the ball over the defence, regathered and ran in unopposed for a well-taken but fortunate try. The conversion put the visitors 7-3 up.

Weston began to turn the screw, although Thorns battled hard. The defence was outstanding and Thorns managed to take play back upfield. James Wood flattened his opposite number with a powerful charge but some of the handling of the backs under pressure lacked the accuracy to make the most of limited possession. However, they forced a mistake and Luke reduced the deficit with a second penalty.

A penalty try awarded for a wheeled scrum on the Thornbury line deep in stoppage time saw Weston lead 14-6 at half time.

Weston started the second half as they ended the first with powerful carries from the forwards and good hands from the backs, eventually creating space for the number eight to score a converted try. Three minutes later, the forwards drove over again and the conversion put Weston out of sight at 28-6.

With over half an hour to go, supporters feared this could be a substantial defeat. But the players had other ideas. Thornbury got back into the game. Henry Conchie won a line-out on the Weston ‘22’ and Rob Higgitt seared through a gap but a forward pass denied Thornbury again. Instead a fine cross-kick put the Weston right wing in for a fifth try.

Thorns ignored the setback and were again playing good rugby. Weston were conceding penalties and Luke was giving Thorns valuable field position. Wood had took play to the line for Jack Hussey to score.