Tribute South West One West

Thornbury 50 Cullompton 12

THORNBURY blew away Cullompton in a surprisingly comfortable seven-try victory which eases them up to fifth place in the table.

Cullompton never recovered from a frantic start which saw Thorns race to a 17-0 lead in the first 15 minutes. Tom Williams and Harry Glew both scored a brace of tries.

Thorns hit the ground running and went ahead after three minutes when Williams intercepted on halfway and sprinted in for the try. Jake Wood converted for the perfect start.

Thornbury took the restart and charged back into Cullompton territory. Good defence kept them out. Then after ten minutes Alfie Richardson caught the ball deep in his ‘22’ and raced upfield, stepped between two players and sprinted to halfway. He passed inside to Williams who fed Dai Matthews who passed back to Richardson who ran in for the try.

It was one of the tries of the season. Tom Luke converted then added a penalty for a 17-0 lead.

Midway through the half, a third try was scored from a driving line-out with Sam Evans crashing over. The conversion narrowly missed.

Cullompton then enjoyed their best period of the game and were awarded a penalty try at a scrum on the stroke of half time. Thorns led 22-7 at the break.

Cully began the second half well and applied pressure to the Thornbury line, but Thorns’ defence was outstanding. After ten minutes camped on their own line, a Harry Glew clearance kick was knocked on and Thorns had survived.

A minute later a remarkably quick driving line-out saw the Thornbury pack surge over the Cullompton line for a Glew try and the bonus point. Luke converted.

Four minutes later, Glew capitalised on Cullompton’s inability to clear from a scrum to score again. Luke’s conversion put Thorns out of sight at 36-7.

As the game entered the final quarter, Thorns looked to twist the knife. Forwards and backs combined in a multi-phase move with great continuity which culminated in the outstanding Williams bursting clear and scoring his second try. Luke converted, and then as Thorns attacked from the restart a Luke cross-kick found Matthews unmarked and he touched down for Thorns’ seventh try. The conversion brought up the half-century.

Cullompton scored a late consolation try and Thornbury ensured the line wasn’t crossed again to win 50-12.