Rugby: Thornbury recover from red card to clinch fine win (From Gazette Series)

South West One West: Cleve 3 Thornbury 20

4:20pm Wednesday 18th January 2012 in Thornbury Sport

THORNBURY returned to winning ways with a magnificent victory at fifth-placed Cleve against the odds as they played half the game with 14 men. Their power, commitment and control was of the highest order and it yielded Thorns’ biggest winning margin of the season; one which gives confidence to the challenge of escaping the lower reaches of the league table.

Thorns kicked off and put initial pressure on Cleve, but the hosts ran the ball back and Dai Matthews produced a magnificent tackle on the home wing.

It was a pointer to how Thornbury would play. However, Cleve dominated the early exchanges and went ahead with a penalty after 22 minutes.

Shortly after the restart Thorns took play into the Cleve 22 and were awarded a scrum. George Maggs picked up and was hauled down by three players, but the ball came out quickly and Jak Evans drove through four defenders to score the opening try. Tim Stephens converted and Thorns were 7-3 ahead.

The Thornbury pack was now on top and with Liam Rinn and Tim Stephens kicking well Thorns’ sensible rugby dominated play. The second half started in controversial fashion. Thorns took play into the home 22 and were awarded a penalty. As play broke up Giles Bristol shrugged off a Cleve forward draped over his back, but the referee sent him off for a spear tackle.

Thornbury’s attitude was superb. The forwards, incensed by the dismissal, set about Cleve with discipline and control. Rinn and Stephens continued to keep themmoving forward with their excellent kicking game. A Rinn clearance and Thornbury lineout steal was followed by a rolling maul that took play to the Cleve 22.

Evans and Matthews were inches short with drives on the Cleve line. The home side infringed and a Tim Stephens penalty extended Thorns’ lead to 10-3. Another irresistible rolling maul was collapsed illegally and Stephens added another penalty to put Thorns 13-3 ahead shortly afterwards. With four minutes of normal time remaining Thorns pressed in the Cleve 22. The home side scrambled a kick away into the hands of Dan Hussey. He passed inside to Jak Evans, who raced through a gap in the defence, drew the last line and passed to the supporting Adam Hodgkins for another try. Stephens converted to put Thornbury out of sight. The referee ended the match after five minutes of stoppage time and magnificent Thornbury won a game that seemed impossible with only 14 players.

Thornbury scorers: tries - Jak Evans, Adam Hodgkins; conversions - Tim Stephens (2); penalties - Tim Stephens (2).