SSE NATIONAL 3 (LSE)
WESTCOMBE PARK 35 v 18 THURROCK
SCORE line’s sometimes never reflect the effort and commitment on show and for nearly an hour Thurrock and Westcombe Park were locked in a battle with the scores level at 13-13, then a mistake in defence Thurrock conceded a try from centre Hough and it seemed to knock the stuffing out them, it was the first of three tries conceded in the last quarter, but it also coincided with two injuries that changed the shape of Thurrock’s team, hooker and captain Reece Durrance and centre Lewis Pruce both left the field with knee injuries, adding to the shoulder injury to Jake Barrand in the first half which will see him out for the rest of the season, so not a good day for the Thurrock squad in terms of injuries.
Frankie Neale opened the scoring for Thurrock, with a fine try which he converted himself and after 15 minutes they led 7-0. Luke Giles pegged back a penalty for the home side before catch and drive led to a score from prop Conlon, and Giles added the conversion for Park to lead 10-7, the last kick of the half Giles added a further penalty to give them a 13-7 lead.
Losing Markus Burcham for 10 minutes for the penalty offence that led to the last minute penalty made little difference as Neale added a penalty, then a further penalty when Thurrock were back to 15 players, at this point the game could have gone either way.
But Park showed much more clinical finishing as tries from Davies and Edwards took the game away, Giles added the conversion for the Davies try, replacement Simpson then added the conversion to Edwards try. Ben Timson gave some further hope when forwards got a score in the corner in between the two late tries but it was to no avail as Simpson then as time was up kicked a penalty to rub salt into a wounded Thurrock
TEAM: Neale, Farrell, Pruce (Loka 59m), Burcham, Barrand (Gorman 15m),Rudgeley, Cook, North, Durrance (Scott 56m), Bevans-Royston, Flavin, Ellis, Cooper-Hicks, Timson, Kellard,
Thurrock are at HOME to CS RUGBY this Saturday, kick off is 3.00pm
