Thorns scored four tries in each half as they put Coney Hill to the sword, but could reflect that they should have scored several more tries in the second half as they ran their tiring hosts ragged in the final quarter.

The side was based on the team that had triumphed over Avonmouth in the Combination Cup ten days earlier. Mike Beswick partnered Jake Wood in the centre and Harry Glew continued as an emergency wing whilst injuries in the back row saw returning skipper Sam Evans switch to blind-side with Jim Massey coming in at No.8 with Liam Pemberton injured. Jack Summerfield hooked. Thorns chose two backs on the bench alongside Max Harper. Dan Hussey was joined by Dai Matthews, having recovered from a long-standing injury to play his first game of the season. Thornbury donned their new “away” plain red shirts for the first time.

Coney Hill, languishing at the bottom of the table many points adrift, had shown an up-turn in their results in recent weeks and had enjoyed a substantial win over Cullompton. Although already relegated they are a proud club and were unlikely to go down without a fight. However, it was important that Thornbury registered a substantial win and secured five match points.

Thornbury got off to the best possible start. Coney Hill kicked off directly to touch and from the scrum restart in centre field Thorns attacked. Jim Massey picked up and linked with Jak Evans and Alfie Richardson giving Rich Bennett the chance to run at his opponent. He veered outside his man and ran around to score between the posts. Jake Wood converted. Another try looked likely seconds later when another attack led to Rich Bennett kicking and chasing the ball as it went in goal but the ball seemed to accelerate away and rolled over the dead-ball line. But Thornbury were not to be denied and Thorns attacked again with pace and purpose, Jim Massey and Tom Constable made good ground and the ball was eventually moved to the left wing where Sam Evans powered down the touchline from distance to run around and score. Jake Wood converted and Thorns were 14-0 ahead after only four minutes.

Coney Hill then began to recover and enjoyed a period where they controlled possession with scrumhalf Fin Baker giving the Thornbury back row plenty to think about. Thorns seemed to have lost their momentum. Then there was a bizarre series of injuries with both sides suffering. Mike Beswick was helped off with a knee injury allowing Dai Matthews to come on sooner than anticipated.

Early in the second quarter Thorns went further ahead when another break and run at pace put Alfie Richardson into space. He used great footwork to round the cover and score. Jake Wood’s conversion was narrowly wide but Thorns led 19-0.

Shortly afterwards the try bonus point was in the bag as Thornbury pressurised the Coney Hill defence. Hill made a hash of clearing their lines and handed the initiative to Thornbury. Thorns’ scrum was on top and a drive from ten metres out ended with Jim Massey picking up and crashing over. Jake Wood converted.

Another try looked likely as a fine bout of crisp passing moved play at pace to the Coney Hill ‘22’ only for the final pass to miss Rich Bennett and bounce into touch. The wind began to pick up and spots of rain began to fall. Max Harper came on for Sam Evans and the first half ended with Thorns 26-0 ahead. Dan Hussey came on for Jak Evans at the break, with Harry Glew taking over at scrum half.

Coney Hill began the second half with great purpose and quickly slipped through a few weak tackles to camp on the Thornbury line. Jim Massey was curiously penalised for handling in a ruck when standing upright in front of his posts and shown the yellow card. As he trudged off Coney Hill took the penalty quickly and lock Adam Piotvowski scored an unconverted try.

Thorns quelled the Coney Hill passion and close to the end of the third quarter went further ahead. They turned over Coney Hill on their ten metre line, Jim Massey raced clear and fed Jake Wood who sprinted forty metres for the try, which he converted for a 33-5 lead.

Alfie Richardson scored a second try a few minutes later. Dai Matthews took a badly covered kick and Max Harper ran clear, broke a tackle and tied up the defence. The ball was recycled quickly through Johnny Heaven and Sam Poustie fed Richardson running flat out saw him ease past the wing and beat the cover for pace and score. Jake Wood converted for 40-5.

The tries were interspersed with a succession of glorious opportunities which were squandered as Thorns over-complicated things. Breaks were made, the defence opened up and the scoring pass delivered badly, or dropped.

With fulltime approaching the passes did eventually work and with Coney Hill clearly tiring space was created for Sam Poustie to waltz through and score another try. Jake Wood converted, and then added the extras to his second try in last play when the ball was moved wide where Dan Hussey kicked behind the defence and Woody showed great determination in chasing the ball touching it down a centimetre before the dead ball line. The referee blew for no side after the kick and an air of satisfaction, of “job done”, descended on Metz Way.

There were several fine performances in the Thornbury side. Louis Osborne tackled constantly and secured several turnovers, Jim Massey carried well and the front row had their significantly bigger opponents in trouble throughout. Sam Poustie directed proceedings from the outside half hinge while Jake Wood threatened to dance through the defence whenever he had the ball in hand and scored twenty-four points. Rich Bennett and Alfie Richardson ran hard and fast for their scores.

Coney Hill showed admirable spirit and never stopped trying despite the cause being lost some time in the distant past. They possessed several useful players who if joined by a few of similar ability would provide the core of a side that could threaten in Western Counties North next season.

The win will give Thornbury confidence for the challenge of St Ives next Saturday for another match Thorns will look to get something from. Kick-off is 2:30.

Scorers:
Thornbury: tries – Rich Bennett, Sam Evans, Alfie Richardson (2), Jim Massey, Jake Wood (2), Sam Poustie; conversions – Jake Wood (7)
Coney Hill: try - Adam Piotvowski

Teams:
Thornbury: Alfie Richardson; Rich Bennett, Mike Beswick, Jake Wood, Harry Glew; Sam Poustie, Jak Evans; Kieran Wilson, Jack Summerfield, Johnny Heaven, Tom Constable, Chris Moseley, Sam Evans (c), Louis Osborne, Jim Massey.
Replacements: Max Harper, Dai Matthews, Dan Hussey.

Coney Hill: Rob Cooke; Marcel Sewell, Dwayne Burrows, Max Whelan, Dan Loftus; Alanas Alasauskis, Fin Baker; Gavin Tippins, Jaden Astle, Sigitas Ciakas, Adam Piotvowski, Ryan Stephens, Stephen Griffin, Kai Turner, Leo Hall.
Replacements: Haydn Dix, Macauley Jones, Carl Fritchley.

Referee: Chris Thomas (Gloucester Referees Society)