THORNBURY resisted a second-half comeback at Drybrook to seal a bonus-point 29-19 win on the road.

The visitors led 17-0 at half-time but had to dig in during the second-half as Drybrook came back at them with three tries, but it was not enough to deny Thornbury the maximum five-point victory.

Drybrook were immediately on top but Thornbury’s defence was sound, although they were regularly penalised by the referee and that eventually ended with a yellow card.

Drybrook dominated play in the Thornbury ‘22’ but after an absorbing but scoreless opening quarter, Thornbury scored the first try when Alfie Richardson rounded his opponent before winning the race to the ball after a chip in behind for a fine individual try in the corner. Jake Wood converted for a 7-0 lead against the run of play.

Thorns continued to incur the displeasure of the referee and had a second player yellow-carded.

But the longer the half continued, the better Thorns looked and Wood increased the lead with a penalty.

Then, as the clock ticked into first-half injury time, Thorns scored a second try. They attacked wide down the right through Wood before the defence was tied up in midfield and Richardson created space for Mike Priday to score down the left. Wood converted and Thorns led 17-0 at the interval.

Thornbury expected a Drybrook backlash at the start of the second half and that came through a try from the scrum-half to reduce the deficit to 17-5. That resurgence looked likely to feature a second try but Stuart McWhinnie worked wonders to rob a forward drive on the line.

Thorns survived and, shortly after, the forwards drove for the line before moving the ball to the left where Luke Panting charged through and offloaded to Sam Garbett who dived over for the third try.

But it was a swift response from Drybrook and their forwards who powered over for a converted try and with ten minutes left, Thorns were only 22-12 ahead.

The hosts piled on the pressure as they looked to further reduce the deficit but having kept them out, Thornbury were able to finish the game off when Curtis and Wood created the bonus point try for Chris Perrett.

Wood converted and left Drybrook with too much to do, although they did have the last laugh with a try in the last play of the match.