Thurrock continued to find last season’s form and recorded their third consecutive win and added an additonal bonus point when scoring their fourth try in injury time.
Thurrock’s first visit to Stevenage found that the home side pitch had a large undulating slope, and having won the toss Thurrock played uphill in the first half and always seemed to be on the front foot, but had little to show for it.
Until at long last Thurrock forwards managed get their phases of play going and it was James Flavin capping a fantastic game for the Thurrock back rower, who got himself at the bottom of the forward rolling maul, to score wide out to put Thurrock in front with a hard worked try, Burns was unlucky with conversion against the breeze.
The home side missed a kickable penalty midway through the half and even when Ben Partridge was harshly sin binned Stevenage could not break the Thurrock defence meaning the visitors were able to hold on to their 5-0 lead until the half time whistle.
Thurrock came out of the blocks in the second half and quickly forced an attacking scrum Woodward picked up at the base with ball getting to Ben Stanley who jinked and twisted by would be tacklers to score under the posts, Burns added the extra points. Thurrock were in complete control but the game which was getting a bit frantic with one or two incidents the game was just under boiling point, with the referee taking two long lectures to both captains and some players to try to install some calm. Neil Cockrell replaced Burns just after the try, but Thurrock where caught napping when Stevenage took a quick line out with The Thurrock defence in disarray, Stevenage full back Lemon scored in the corner.
But this was quickly cancelled out, as Thurrock quickly went back and scored an unconverted try themselves when Earl Gorman finishing off a fine move, he was also unlucky in his conversion attempt from wide out. It was now with the game won and seconds ticking away that Thurrock chased the extra point, a quick tapped penalty from Darryl Worster set the backs away with help from Flavin, made space for Bradleigh Rettigan to outstretch the home defence and score under the posts, the no8 then added the extra point with a drop kicked conversion, which was the last action of the match.
TEAM: Worster, Farrell, Stanley, Gorman, Porter, Madden, Burns (Cockrell 55m), North, Carey, Partridge , Banks , Loka, Woodward (Herrington 60m), Flavin, Rettigan Rep: Rate
