| Thornbury 17 - 0 North Bristol | |
| League, Saturday 30 Jan 2010 | match photos |
| Selection | |||
| Forwards | Backs | ||
 | Matt Gay Loose Head | | Stuart Adams Scrum Half |
| Mike Sander Hooker |  | Wayne Underwood Fly Half |
| Adam Hodgkins Tight Head | | Craig Beyer Left Wing |
 | Jon Day Second Row | | Dave Mathews Inside Centre |
 | Alex Kane Second Row | | Ollie Fleming Outside Centre |
| Shaun Kavanagh Blindside Flanker |  | Dan Hussey Right Wing | |
 | Liam Pemberton Openside Flanker | | Sam Olde Full Back |
| Tom Guzman Number Eight | ||
| Replacements | |||
| Beric Wetton Forwards Replacement |  | Liam Rinn Backs Replacement |
| Jack Evans Backs Replacement | |||
| Points Scorers | |||||
| Player | Tries | Cons | Pens | Drops | Points |
| Jon Day | 1 | 5 | |||
| Ollie Fleming | 1 | 2 | 1 | 12 | Total | 2 | 2 | 1 | 17 |
| Man of the match | vote | |
 | Ollie Fleming has received the majority of the 6 votes that have been cast. | |
| Report |
| posted at 20:11 on Sunday 31 January '10 by Dave Fox |
|
Thornbury 17 North Bristol 0 Two second half tries and the accurate boot of stand-in kicker Ollie Fleming saw Thornbury defeat local rivals North Bristol in a scrappy game at Cooper’s Farm. Thornbury were unable to select the same side that had won at Stroud as Giles Bristol and Tim Stephens were unavailable. Alex Kane moved up to second row. Tom Guzman moved across to No.8 and Shaun Kavanagh returned to the back row for his first game for the first XV in two seasons. Ollie Fleming replaced Stephens and assumed the role of goal kicker. The match was preceded by a minute’s silence for George Fensome, head of a great rugby dynasty at Thornbury rugby football club and provider of the hut which was the club’s first clubhouse, who passed away earlier in the month. The early exchanges were fairly even. Thornbury held the ascendancy in the lineout whilst North had the edge in the scrum and were more physical at the breakdown. The visitors had more possession and territory but were unable to create scoring opportunities. Thornbury were able to repel forward drives and snuff-out any three-quarter moves. Thirty minutes into the match Thornbury got into the North ‘22’. Kavanagh led a powerful drive down the touchline, the ball was moved into midfield and Jon Day made good ground. The forwards drove on and Tom Guzman burst out of a maul and crashed over. However, referee Natalie Amor was unsighted and disallowed the try, much to the relief of the North side who had wandered off to stand between the posts, ample evidence that the try had been good. However, it wasn’t, and Thornbury were awarded a scrum instead. Seconds later, Thorns were awarded a penalty but inexplicably opted to run rather than take the points. The ball was moved out to Dan Hussey but he was unable to gather the pass. After stretching the visitor’s defence in their ‘22’ the ball was lost. North cleared and took play up to the Thornbury goal line. Thorns made a hash of clearing but the visitors were unable to score and the half ended scoreless. On a bright but frosty afternoon match sponsors from The Fox Inn at Old Down retired to the comfort of the bar while the players considered how to open up their opponents defence. Thornbury played downhill in the second half and immediately played at a higher pace. Dai Matthews made two breaks but Thorns were unable to capitalise. However, North began to struggle with the tempo, and the pressure that put on them. Six minutes into the half a fine cross kick nearly put Craig Beyer in for a score, but he was unable to gather a difficult ball. Five minutes later North tried to kick over the Thornbury defence. It was charged down by Wayne Underwood, who gathered the ball in mid-air and set off. He drew the last line of defence and passed inside to Ollie Fleming who hared off towards the posts pursued by three defenders. Although he began celebrating the try ten metres from the line he dived over without a hand laid on him. He then converted his try to put Thornbury 7-0 ahead. Midway through the half Dan Hussey and North wing Carl Smith collided in mid air and both required treatment before continuing. The blow to Dan’s shoulder later forced him off, to be replaced by Liam Rinn. North missed a penalty kick at goal and spent some time in the Thornbury ‘22’ but Thorns defended well and kept their line intact. With ten minutes to go Shaun Kavanagh and Jon Day led powerful drives on the North line, Day was very close to scoring. However Thorns were illegally prevented from clearing the ball at the ruck and centre Mike Lewis was sent to the sin bin. Fleming kicked a penalty to put Thorns two scores ahead. Beric Wetton came on for Liam Pemberton and Stuart Adams made way for Jack Evans, who make his first team debut. As the game went into stoppage time Evans fed a scrum in front of the North posts. He showed good strength in keeping the visitors’ back row at bay and the rest of the home pack drove on towards the line, the ball eventually coming clear and Jon Day drove over for a deserved try. Fleming converted. A minute later, during which Thorns had split the North defence again, the referee blew for the end of the game. It had been a scrappy game. Thornbury struggled to put away an opponent who frustrated them and brought them down to their level. North had enjoyed most of the possession but never threatened to score. The home scrum struggled on occasions and were penalised for wheeling, although protests that they were scrummaging straight fell on deaf ears. Thorns were fitter, faster and had the ascendancy in the loose after the break, and Shaun Kavanagh was well deserving of the ‘man of the match’ award from the sponsors. The backs made several breaks but were unable to finish off the half chances they made. Ollie Fleming did a fine job standing in for Tim Stephens and finished the game with twelve points and a 100% kicking record. Scorers: Thornbury: tries – Ollie Fleming, Jon Day; conversions – Fleming (2); penalty – Fleming Teams: Thornbury – Sam Olde; Dan Hussey, Ollie Fleming, Dai Matthews, Craig Beyer; Wayne Underwood, Stuart Adams; Matt Gay, Mike Sander (c), Adam Hodgkins, Jon Day, Alex Kane, Shaun Kavanagh, Liam Pemberton, Tom Guzman. Replacements: Liam Rinn for Hussey, Beric Wetton for Pemberton, Jack Evans for Adams North Bristol – Greg Welsher; Carl Smith, Mike Lewis, Simon Mortimer, Gary Charles; Antony Jelf, Martin Harrex; Alex Flannigan, Shah Seehootoorah, Scott Flannigan, Rob Collins, Ross Wilson (c), Mark Sterry, Alex Featherstone. Replacements: Andy Chappell, Craig Perrett, Chris Jelf Referee: Natalie Amor (Bristol Society) |