Interview with Thornbury head coach Gareth Llewellyn (From Gazette Series)

Interview with Thornbury head coach Gareth Llewellyn

9:17am Thursday 25th February 2010 in

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THORNBURY head coach Gareth Llewellyn praised his side’s defence after they beat league leaders Old Redcliffians to boost their Western Counties North title hopes.

Trailing 8-5, Thornbury had Stuart Adams and Alex Kane yellow carded either side of the interval, briefly reducing them to 13 men, but somehow kept the visitors out before scoring two tries to secure the win.

Former Wales captain Llewellyn said: “We won the game on our defence because we didn’t have a lineout - there were six not straight - the penalty count was against us and we had two men in the bin.

“The conditions weren’t conducive to playing running rugby which we’re pretty good at so if we can defend like that, play running rugby and get our set piece sorted out then we can give anyone a game.”

That win completed the double for Thornbury over their title rivals this season, with Old Redcliffians winning all nine games since the teams last met in October. The Thorns are now four points behind with a game in hand, but have an inferior points difference meaning their rivals will have to slip up at least twice between now and the end of the season.

But Llewellyn has not given up on the title, saying: “All we can do is keep winning and we’ll be relying on them losing a couple of games or overcoming a big points difference so we’ll see.

“We’ve just got to hold up our end of the deal really.

“We can’t lack focus, we’ve just got to keep on winning and see what happens.”

Whoever finishes top gains automatic promotion, while the team in second place will face a promotion play-off against the second placed team in Western Counties West.

Thornbury are currently six points clear of third placed Barton Hill but their opponents at Cooper’s Farm this Saturday, Drybrook, are eight points behind with two games in hand and also in the hunt for second place.