THORNBURY secured a maximum points win in a hard-fought game with new opponents from Oxfordshire: Witney.

The Thorns - who beat Witney 30-10 - could have scored more than the five tries they were awarded but having started with a forward in the backline they lost three further backs to injury and finished the game with a strange looking and disjointed three-quarter line.

Witney kicked off downhill then with only three minutes gone Jack Oakey ran back a clearing kick and put Thorns in the Witney half. Thornbury applied pressure and Henry Low went over for the opening try from a lineout drive.

The very vocal Witney side then enjoyed a few minutes on top in the Thornbury ‘22’ and eventually their second row crashed over. The conversion put Witney 7-5 ahead.

Thornbury’s forwards took control, with young Alex Bosworth putting his opponent under pressure in the scrum. Tom Constable had a try disallowed, but the Witney defence was more than capable in dealing with everything Thorns threw at them.

Witney cleared but Thorns scored shortly afterwards. They attacked from deep then when the ball was recycled on the Thornbury ten metre line Sam Poustie kicked ahead for Sam Garbett to chase. Thornbury’s winger was taken out off the ball before the ball bounced away from the defenders into the arms of Stu McWhinnie running flat out and he sprinted thirty-five metres for the try. Poustie converted to restore the lead at 12-7. Witney kicked a penalty on the stroke of half time and although Thornbury had dominated the game they were only 12-10 ahead.

Early in the second half Jack Summerfield scored a popular try from a lineout drive. It was unconverted but Thorns led 17-10. With three backs off injured Thorns now had forwards in three of the four three-quarter positions, and one of them, Ben Wood, scored the bonus point try. The forwards drove through the Witney defence and Ben Wood made good ground. Then the ball was recycled quickly and moved further to the right to Wood once more, who slipped a tackle and raced ten metres to score in the corner. With no conversion Thorns led 22-10.

With time running out Poustie kicked the simple penalty to put Thorns two converted tries ahead at 25-10. Thorns defended well in the dying moments then after the ball was cleared Thorns returned to the Witney ‘22’ and deep in stoppage time Gez Asante burst out of a rolling maul for a fifth try and herald the final whistle.

Thornbury will be satisfied with their win, and to have secured all the match points. However, there was a lot of frustration that the injury list had increased again.

The pack went particularly well, with skipper James Wood carrying well and leading by example. The defence was significantly improved and even in the dying seconds of the game they tackled as hard as they had in the early stages. Although the lineout occasionally spluttered the scrum was excellent with Alex Bosworth having a game to remember. Tyrese Redgers and Patrick Romano had their best games in a Thornbury shirt and the tries scored by Stuart McWhinnie and Ben Wood were particularly memorable. Gez Asante was awarded player of the match by the sponsors from the clubs’ ladies.

Next Saturday Thorns travel to table-topping Chippenham for the last of the first round of fixtures.