| Widden Old Boys 11 - 52 Thornbury | |
| League, Saturday 28 Nov 2009 | add photos |
| Selection | |||
| Forwards | Backs | ||
 | Matt Gay Loose Head | | Stuart Adams Scrum Half |
 | Seb Bonizzi Hooker |  | Wayne Underwood Fly Half |
| Adam Hodgkins Tight Head | | Ollie Fleming Left Wing |
| James Murray Second Row | | Dave Mathews Inside Centre |
| Giles Bristol Second Row | Tim Stephens Outside Centre | |
 | Jon Day Blindside Flanker |  | Dan Hussey Right Wing |
| Tom Guzman Openside Flanker | | Sam Olde Full Back |
 | George Maggs Number Eight | ||
| Replacements | |||
| Mike Sander Forwards Replacement | | Michael Gaston Backs Replacement |
 | Liam Pemberton Forwards Replacement | ||
| Points Scorers | |||||
| Player | Tries | Cons | Pens | Drops | Points |
| Adam Hodgkins | 2 | 10 | |||
| Tim Stephens | 2 | 3 | 2 | 22 | |
| Dan Hussey | 2 | 10 | |||
| Sam Olde | 2 | 10 | Total | 8 | 3 | 2 | 52 |
| Man of the match | vote | |
| Tim Stephens has received the majority of the 1 votes that have been cast. | ||
| Report |
| posted at 08:26 on Tuesday 1 December '09 by Kim Fox |
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Widden Old Boys 11, Thornbury 52 Thornbury defied poor conditions to demolish Widden in an 8 try hammering at Tuffley Avenue on Saturday. In doing so, Thorns narrowed the points difference margin that keeps them in second place behind Old Reds. Head coach Gareth Llewellyn gave Seb Bonizzi a rare chance to start at hooker, with Matt Gaye taking over at loose-head, and Mike Sander stepping down to the bench, in the only change to the pack that had played Southmead the previous weekend. Jon Day continued at blind-side and captained the side. Craig Beyer was unavailable, so Ollie Fleming took over on the wing, with Dai Matthews returning to the centre and Sam Olde reverting to full back. Within minutes of the match starting, Widden were ahead, centre Aaron Tonks kicking a penalty, after Thorns were penalised for the use of hands in the ruck. Widden went back on attack, but Thornbury's superior turnover skills won them the ball, and good passes and breaks from Sam Olde and Ollie Fleming out of defence, moved play deep into the Widden half, until Fleming was tackled into touch at the home side's “22”. From the line out, Dai Matthews chipped the ball forward for Dan Hussey, but Hussey was in front of the ball. This gave Widden another chance of attacking, and a ball kicked behind the Thornbury defence forced Fleming to dive on the ball over the line. Play continued, and ten minutes later Referee Martin Ellis, from the East Midlands Society, blew up for a Widden infringement under the posts, after Seb Bonizzi had driven forward and been held up at the 5m line. Tim Stephens opened Thornbury's scoring with a penalty in front of the posts, equalling the score at 3 all. A line out minutes after the restart moved the ball through the backs and out to Dan Hussey on the far wing, who chipped up and over the defence, providing Tim Stephens with the opportunity to gather the ball and dive over in the corner. Stephens missed the difficult conversion, but Thorns nudged themselves into the lead. Spectators from both teams barely had time to draw breath from the restart, before George Maggs recycled the ball, and moved it across the 3/4s to Dan Hussey, who beat two men to score in the exact same spot they'd witnessed Tim Stephens score only moments before. Hussey was close to scoring again over the next few minutes, but was held up and prevented. Thorns continued to apply pressure, and attacked deep within the Widden “22”, but the home defence managed to hold out until Matthews put Hussey in for another unconverted try, and let Dan begin to catch his younger brother Jack up in numbers of tries scored. With 10 minutes left of the first half, Thorns were leading 18 points to 3. Following good passing from a penalty give to Widden, the home winger Ben Hannis crashed over in the corner, but Tonks missed the conversion, closing the gap to only 10 points. In an attempt to defend and prevent the Widden try, visiting lock Jamie Murray was injured, and taken off to the hospital with a worrying foot injury. Liam Pemberton came on, with the ever versatile Jon Day moving up to the second row. Shortly afterwards, Thornbury won a line out on their own “22” and the ball was chipped into centre field. George Maggs broke through and chased, racing down the pitch before eventually being tackled just short of the 5m line. Once again in this position, Widden infringed allowing Stephens to chip the ball over the posts for a second penalty goal in front of the posts. This left the score at 8-21. Thorns began the second half with Mike Sander replacing Seb Bonizzi as hooker. With the Captain now on the pitch, Thornbury restarted their unending attack on the home team, and minutes later, tight head Prop Adam Hodgkins, now fully returned from a slightly worrying back injury, charged over the line and deposited another 5 points on the scoreboard. Tim Stephens converted the try, and Thorns ploughed ahead, holding 20 points over the heads of the home team. From the restart, Widden attacked furiously, but Thorns managed to hold them out, but not without relinquishing a penalty, which Aaron Tonks tapped over. Within seconds, Thorns had charged ahead another 7 points, as Widden number 8 James Cook, caught the ball from the restart, but was seemingly undecided about what action to take, at which point Stephens took the ball, and charged from just inside the Widden half, to score spectacularly under the posts. With Thorns leading 11-35, Ollie Fleming came off, to be replaced with Mike Gaston. Thornbury were given a penalty scrum deep in their own half. With Stuart Adams passing the ball back to Matthews, who made a half break and passed to Sam Olde, who weaved his way down the right wing, before scoring in the corner. Stephens missed the penalty, but Thorns definitively secured their win, extending the gap to 11-40. As the third quarter of the game ticked past, Matthews made another mad break for the line, before passing across to Stephens, who was tackled close to the line, before a supporting Hodgkins dived over for his second try, this time unconverted. The conditions got gloomy and colder, and the pitch deteriorated, but Thorns still battled on, with good runs from Giles Bristol, Gaston and Maggs they kept the pressure on the home team. A line out from Thornbury's “22” put the ball neatly in Sam Olde's hands once more, and with unerring speed he raced down the pitch, beating at least two men, before veering in from the wing and touching down near the posts. Tim Stephens converted, closing the score at 11-52, and ended having scored 22 points himself, with 2 tries, 2 penalties and 3 conversions. It was a superb win for Thornbury, who ran confidently and purposefully throughout. To score 8 tries on a very heavy pitch was a fine achievement. The forwards had the home pack in trouble throughout and the only blemish on the performance was the injury to Jamie Murray. Time will tell whether he will be fit for next weekend's crucial game at home to Barton Hill. Scorers: Thornbury: - tries – Adam Hodgkins (2), Dan Hussey (2), Sam Olde (2), Tim Stephens (2); conversions – Tim Stephens (3); penalties – Tim Stephens (2) Widden Old Boys: - try – Ben Hannis; penalties – Aaron Tonks (2) Teams: Thornbury: Sam Olde, Dan Hussey, Tim Stephens, Dai Matthews, Ollie Fleming, Wayne Underwood, Stuart Adams, Matt Gaye, Seb Bonizzi, Adam Hodgkins, Giles Bristol, Jamie Murray, Tom Guzman, Jon Day © , George Maggs. Reps: Mike Gaston for Ollie Fleming, Mike Sander for Seb Bonizzi, Liam Pemberton for Jamie Murray. Widden: Craig Thomas, Blake Smith, Aaron Tonks, Rich Green, Ben Hannis, Danny Rudge, Mike Trigg, Ben Walker ©, D. Brain, Luke Carr, James Edwards, P. Gunter, Jack Flannigan, Pat Joyce. Reps: Ollie Preston for Ben Walker, Stefan Evans for Craig Thomas, Aaron Bodsworth for D. Brain. Referee: Martin Ellis (East Midlands Society) |