Five from Tyler as Thorns blast the Mouth

Report from Jon Day

Thornbury thirds hosted Avonmouth on Saturday in a tough and well fought competitive match. With neither club having a second team fixture, both sides boasted strong benches with plenty of replacements.
For the second week in a row, Thornbury fielded a new prop to the ranks. Ed Daily returned to the game after a break and was welcomed into the front row alongside Rich Jones and Luke Panting, who were up against a tough and experienced Avonmouth front row. With no Development Squad game, lock Alex Johnson started only his second senior match alongside Mark Sutherland in a very tall second row. Thornbury started with an experienced back line with youth on the wings in the shape of Tyler Tyrell and Josh Panting. After a long injury, it was great to see James Philips return to action from the bench.
Avonmouth started the stronger and were the first to score with a well worked try on the right hand side, but this spurred the home side into action. Good handling in the backs created space on the right flank for Tyler Tyrell to show a clean pair of heels to his opposite number. Repeating this pattern of play proved pretty successful for Thorns and before long, Tyler had scored a hat-trick as the hosts started to open up a strong lead. His opposite wing Josh Panting was getting in on the action too coming off his wing to look for work on regular occasions and also crossed for a try. The Avonmouth pack were not rolling over and took the game to Thornbury. Stu Murray in particular made countless tackles and all Thornbury defenders put in a shift, but this couldn’t prevent a further brace of tries from the visitors. Thorns were perhaps guilty of kicking away possession their opponent’s half when hands may have had more success.
A close half came to an end and Thorns turned round to play up the hill with several changes to the starting team. Andy Bamford and Jon Day came into the front row and James Phillips replaced John Rigby on the flank, whilst Simon Weaver came into the backs at centre and immediately bought the game to life creating chances and opportunities for those around him. Weaver and Underwood linked and interchanged wonderfully well to the extent that any observer may have thought they’d played together before. Andy Bamford too showed what a good impact player he still is with his unique physical and verbal contributions. Before long Bamford was driven over the line for what looked like a good try, only for referee Andy Akerman to judge that the ball was held up.
Despite playing at 8 behind a front row under some pressure, Stu Murray tidied up well at the back of the scrum and was rewarded with a try following a strong run. Jon Pullin added his second conversion then was replaced by Joel Bamford at full back, who came into the game well showing good footwork and hands. One such phase of play set up another try for Tyrell after other players had butchered try scoring opportunities. Tyler then crossed for a second half brace after the ball was shipped brilliantly through many pairs of hands.
Dan Green has had a fine season and has on many occasions broken the defensive line with strong running. When he sniffed a gap in the Avonmouth defence, it had try time written all over it and Dan crossed for Thornbury’s 8th try. Avonmouth still refused to give up and had the final say. As Thornbury players held a small committee meeting to discuss one of Akerman’s decisions, a quick thinking Avonmouth player took a tap penalty to himself and walked in from the 22 to score under the post. The conversion sailed through the uprights as the committee meeting continued. Thornbury Thirds now have a week off before the final league games against Yate, Cotham Park and Saracens.

Thornbury Scorers: tries - Tyler Tyrrell (5), Dan Green, Josh Panting, Stu Murray; conversions: Jon Pullin (2), Joel Bamford (2)

Thornbury: Jon Pullin; Tyler Tyrell, Ben Guzman, Dan Green, Josh Panting; Wayne Underwood, Stu Adams; Luke Panting, , Rich Jones, Ed Daily, Mark Sutherland, Alex Johnson, Rich Daniels, John Rigby, Stu Murray, Replacements: Jon Day, Andy Bamford, James Phillips, Craig Walters, Simon Weaver, Joel Bamford