3:05pm Monday 17th November 2008
Western Counties North - Thornbury 3 North Bristol 17
AGGRESSIVE defence and the accurate boot of Martin Lambourne helped North Bristol to their first league win at Rockhampton Road against Thornbury in the local derby.
Nine points in as many minutes from Lambourne at the start of the second half was sufficient to defeat a disappointing Thornbury side.
North started the game at top speed and Lambourne narrowly missed a penalty in the first minute of the game.
The first quarter was spent in the Thornbury half and despite having a strong wind behind them, Thorns were unable to clear their lines. Paul Howell came close once as did impressive centre Dan Snow but North could not score.
Midway through the first half Lambourne opened the scoring with a penalty.
This sparked Thornbury into life and they were on top for the remainder of the half. On 30 minutes Tim Stephens kicked an equalising penalty after North were holding on in the tackle.
However, from the restart Thornbury inexplicably decided to run out of defence rather than kick down field. The ball was turned over and live-wire scrum-half Alex Cue crashed over in the corner for an unconverted try.
Thornbury attacked again but neither backs nor forwards were able to penetrate the North defence.
The home pack tried to drive over and both Tom Guzman and Mike Sander were stopped on the line but North cleared.
With the wind behind his back, Lambourne extended North’s lead from 35 metres in the first minute of the second period when Thornbury were penalised for crossing.
Five minutes later he kicked another penalty following a push in the lineout, and shortly afterwards Lambourne kicked his fourth goal following a high tackle.
Thornbury attacked but fine runs by Dan Hussey and powerful drives from Adam Hodgkins threatened to break through and the harder Thornbury tried the more ragged their play became.
While North could point to some strong performances from Mark Smith, Snow and skipper John Wood they could score no more in a game that ran out of steam to become scrappy and error-strewn.
North held out for victory to narrow the gap at the top of the table and leave Thornbury in a precarious position fourth from bottom.
Thornbury Penalty: Tim Stephens North Bristol Try: Alex Cue. Penalties: Martin Lambourne (4).
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