Trowbridge continued their good record with strong win over Thornbury

Trowbridge’s promotion campaign continued on Saturday when they welcomed Thornbury to Doric Park. They won the match at Rockhampton Hill in November when they wiped out an interval lead to the Gloucestershire side with a dominant forward performance scoring four tries in the second half for a bonus point win, winning 22-3.

This time they were immediately put on the defensive as the visitors score a try in their first attack. Hooker Henry Low scored and Fly half Jack Pickles converted. Trowbridge responded in the fourth minute when skipper Tom Weaver sold a dummy and passed to centre Sam Harrison who went over wide out but on this occasion the conversion was missed. Play continued to take place at the visitors end and hooker Rhys Redman crossed the whitewash after 10 minutes. Weaver’s conversion hit the upright and bounced back into play. Trowbridge were playing at pace at this stage and left wing Alex Christopher was released to sprint down his wing to score after 18 minutes, but for the second time the Trowbridge skipper’s conversion was missed.

Play was more settled for a while with the sides sharing the attacking. On the half hour Thornbury scrum half Ben Fallows stole a loose ball and sprinted in from the home ten metre line to bring the Trowbridge lead back to one point and Pickles converted again from under the posts. As the interval approached play was even but just before the break Trowbridge No 8 Kacey Pike gathered a loose ball in the visitors 22 and drove over for a bonus point try and for the first time Weaver converted. The score when the teams turned round was 22-14 to the Doric Park side.

There we’re still some uncertainties about the result as Trowbridge played away from the town but they reduced the amount of errors and the Gloucestershire side we unable to add to their score in the second half. The Trowbridge forwards gain more dominance and second row Olly Bilton in particular denied possession to the visitors. Tries came at regular intervals, firstly from replacement Ben Mallett in the 54th minute before centre Alex Murchison burst through the centre and out paced the defence after 63 minutes. As the replacement bench emptied, prop Jayden Ephgrave scored in the 71st minute as the Trowbridge forwards increased the pace and in the final minutes right wing Oakley Milton went over on his wing to complete a strong second half performance. Despite this strong performance Thornbury competed until the end and made Trowbridge work for their points.

Trowbridge need to gain two wins in their remaining three matches to complete the season as champions. They will no doubt be tested by Witney at home on 21st March who came back late in the match at Witney earlier this season to threaten an earlier Trowbridge lead. Finally there is the Wiltshire derby at Chippenham to contend with before a home fixture with North Dorset on the last match of the league season on 11th April.