Cullompton.......... 5

Thornbury............8

Thornbury returned to winning ways with a hard-fought victory over Cullompton in an absorbing but scrappy game writs Dave Fox.

Thorns’ defence was greatly improved and they created several opportunities after the break but had to settle for a single try from skipper Sam Evans.

Cullompton kicked off and began the match far better than Thornbury.

They dominated possession and territory and Thorns couldn’t get their hands on the ball. But the defence was better organised and the line remained intact until the eleventh minute when Thorns failed to deal with a loose ball and the wing scored in the corner.

Early in the second quarter Thorns stole a Cullompton lineout and attacked in midfield, earning a penalty and Jake Wood opened Thornbury's account.

Both sides had periods when they were on top but half-time came with Cullompton 5-3 ahead.

Thornbury looked more confident at the start of the second half. They had an early penalty and Wood put the ball into the corner.

The forwards secured the lineout and drove over the line and Evans scored. The conversion missed but Thorns were 8-5 ahead.

After Cullompton had restarted Louis Ogilvie, Wood and Liam Pemberton linked in a fine counter attack from their own ‘22’ to ten metres from the home line but the ball was lost in the tackle and the chance had gone.

Thornbury were creating opportunities but were not finishing them off.

Thorns lost Evans and James Wood with injuries but kept up the pressure.

In the last quarter Tom Williams intercepted and raced into home territory and Ogilvie went for the corner but when the ball was moved across the line a bad pass went direct to touch and Cullompton escaped.

Thornbury were on top and the forwards had possession in the Cullompton ‘22’ as the match drew to a close.

Another try would surely seal victory but a knock-on close to the line denied Thorns again.

Thornbury managed to run down the clock for an 8-5 win.

There was far more ‘dog’ about the

Thornbury performance and although the defence gave Cullompton too much space and time to operate in the home side rarely got through the first line.

The team played better in the second half but made too many errors at crucial times to convert their chances into scores.