Chard 13 Thornbury 20
 
THORNBURY returned from Chard with four points from a valuable win secured by resolute defence and the accurate goal kicking of Tom Luke, who contributed another fifteen points.
 
The first of Luke’s penalties came after Chard were penalised in the first minute, however Thornbury were forced to defend for their lives as Chard attacked from the restart.  The Thornbury scrum was under intense pressure and after a series of drives at the Thornbury line the Chard fullback scored an unconverted try for a 5-3 lead.
 
Luke restored Thornbury’s lead with his second penalty before adding a third shortly afterwards.  Chances were likely to be few and far between so the pragmatic approach of kicking penalties when available was a good one.
 
Chard narrowed the gap with a penalty then had a player yellow-carded but Thornbury led 9-8 at the break.
 
Early in the second half Rob Higgitt broke through and Alfie Richardson touched down in the corner.  However, the Chard touch-judge, who was distracted on halfway subsequently decided Richardson was in touch and the referee had no option but to disallow the try.  
 
Undaunted, Thornbury continued to attack and were held up on the line.  A second Chard player was sent to the sin-bin.  Could Thornbury capitalise on Chard’s temporary reduction to thirteen men?  No.  Thorns opted for a five metre scrum but were penalised on engagement and Chard cleared.
 
Thornbury skipper Liam Pemberton was yellow carded seconds later then the Chard forwards crashed over for a try which put Chard 13-9 ahead.
 
Midway through the second half Richardson received a poor pass but he spun out of a tackle on halfway then slipped out of a second and threaded his way down the touchline through two more defenders and scored in the corner.  This time the try was awarded.  Luke’s conversion shaved the outside of the posts but Thornbury were back ahead 14-13.
 
Thornbury needed another score to ease nerves and Luke obliged with a penalty with ten minutes to go and kicked another a few minutes later to put Thorns seven points ahead at 20-13.
 
Although Chard attacked late on looking for a draw once again the Thornbury defence was excellent and kept their line intact for a valuable victory on the road.
 
The Chard pack remains a significant weapon and Thornbury had to use all their resources to blunt it.  The defence was excellent, but the attacking lacked the fluency or accuracy of the earlier league games with little penetration and countless errors.  A proportion of that can be attributed to Chard’s good defence but with the ball in hand Thorns looked out of sorts.  

Thornbury’s forwards battled away with Jack Hussey having a particularly fine game.  The ball-carriers were tied up securing possession, which was done well from a retreating scrum, and the lineout went well although Thornbury incurred the displeasure of the referee at the breakdown. 


Thornbury’s next game is Saturday week when Clevedon visit Cooper’s Farm.


Thornbury scorers: try – Alfie Richardson; penalties – Tom Luke (5)