Thornbury’s youngsters were well-beaten by an experienced Devonport Services side that made the most of their scoring opportunities writes Dave Fox.

Thorns never fully recovered from a poor start but heart and determination ensured the Plymouth side were reminded they were in a game and were ultimately unfortunate not to get something from it.

Devonport went ahead after 45 seconds when a charged-down clearing kick was turned into a converted try for the pack and a 7-0 lead.

Thorns restarted and the Services offended shortly afterwards. Jake Wood kicked a fine penalty from the 10 metre line to reduce the deficit to 7-3, but the Services attacked from the restart and a cross-kick led to a second converted try after only six minutes.

A handling error gave Wood the chance to score and convert a try to reduce arrears, and Thorns defended well before they conceded a try from a driving lineout on thirty minutes. Thornbury’s scrum began to struggle and when Mike Beswick was harshly yellow-carded on the stroke of half time of Thorns’ run of bad luck continued.

Devonport Services led 19-10 at half-time.

Thornbury kicked off the second half and Devonport ran the ball back and scored again from a driving lineout. The try was converted then the Services’ scrum half scored from another driving lineout to make the score 33-10.

A second Thornbury try came a few minutes later.

The ball was moved across the three-quarters in the home ‘22’ but a poor pass landed at Alfie Richardson’s feet. He kicked the ball against a defender and it spun over the goal line where Dan Hussey was the quickest to react and dived on the ball. Wood converted to reduce arrears to 33-17.

In the final quarter Services scored and converted a push-over try before weak tackling let the scrum half in again, the conversion extending the lead to 47-17. Thornbury did have the last word.

With six minutes remaining, They took a lineout and drove for the Devonport line. The initial charge was repelled but Thorns picked and Tom Williams burst out of a tackle and scored a try. Wood quickly drop-kicked the conversion, which went just wide but the match was lost and

Thornbury ran out of time as they tried to claim a try bonus point.

It gets no easier for Thornbury next Saturday as league leaders Okehampton come to Thornbury.