With everything to play for in Essex 2 Thurrock U15’s made the long trip to face promotion rivals Sudbury.
Thurrock started the game the stronger side, the front row of Walker, Wilkins and Currie getting the better immediately of their Sudbury opponents and stealing their scrum to release the visitors midfield of Cronin and Edwards finishing with fullback Bunney scoring the opening 5 points.
From the restart it was all Thurrock with some slick handling and hard work up front at the breakdown particularly powerhouses Hulse and Harris but some odd decisions seemed to frustrate the visitors and sap their concentration leading to a string of penalties which allowed Sudbury to come back in with 2 well worked tries. The only other score of the half coming from the boot of Holloway to slot a penalty to put the scores 10-8 at the break
Thurrock knew they had 30 minutes to fight back otherwise they would miss their opportunity for another year!! The visiting crowd was not to be disappointed. Thurrock turned on the style both in attack and defense. Reilly put in his performance of the season, stopping everything that wasn’t wearing a black and white shirt!! Pluck carried the ball into the heart of the Sudbury defense from the kick off and the ball was quickly recycled to Holloway who released the ever-dangerous Cronin who made short work of the defense to put Thurrock back in front, Holloway duly converting the score before leaving the field for Taylor.
Again, Thurrock struck from the restart with Oladokun catching the kick and thrusting back into Sudbury half, offloading to Vandy who managed to avoid being bundled into touch to keep the ball alive. Taylor spun the ball into midfield where the hugely impressive Edwards turned on the afterburners to touch down under the posts for Taylor to convert.
Next on the score sheet for the visitors was the lightning fast Allali who burst through on a deftly placed kick by Taylor to put more space between Sudbury and the visitors
Not to be outdone, Sudbury quickly fought back with a loose ball kicked hard downfield and a decent bounce giving the impressive Sudbury Number 8 an open try line to exploit.
That was the last sniff of the Thurrock try line that the home side would have as now it was the turn of Thurrock Number 8 Oladokun to smash over from a very well worked forward drive, quickly followed by a superb show and go leaving the smallest of spaces for scrum half Nimmo to score.
The final score now stood at 15-34 to Thurrock Under 15’s leaving them top and unbeaten in Essex 2
Team: Walker (Pluck 30), Wilkins, Currie, Harris, Hulse, Dennis (Vandy 30), Reilly, Children, (Oladokun 27), Nimmo, Holloway (Taylor 40), Dinnage, Cronin, Edwards, Allali, Bunney.
The squad, coaches, management and parents would like to thank Perry Glading the Managing Director of the Port Of Tilbury for attending the game and for the generous sponsorship and support he has given the team over the past 4 seasons
