Report for Thurrock T-Birds away to Cheltenham
By Thurrock Rugby Club
THIS was one hell of a game and the 10-30 score line does not adequately reflect how close Cheltenham pushed Top of the Table T-Birds.
Physical and committed Cheltenham matched Ts in all departments of the game for long periods and but for the try saving tackles from Natalia Ortega Corales (affectionately if unimaginatively know as “Spanish” ) on at least 6 occasions, Ts could well have lost. Behind on the scoreboard twice, Ts were forced to kick penalties and build a score for the first time in many years.
Four hours on a coach always leaves the T-Birds a little dozy and when Cheltenham came out with all guns blazing they seemed unable to respond in their usual manner.
Ts looked lethargic as Cheltenham took the game to them, and in barley 6 minutes, Ts were behind in a game for the first time in just over a year.
Metaphorically rolling their sleeves up, from the kick off, Ts went straight up to the Cheltenham try line and in less than a minute the scores were level as Captain Foy smashed through the defence and then Ts were ahead as Zaza kicked the conversion.
Unfortunately this was pretty much Foy’s last involvement in the game and shortly after she came off with a shoulder injury. The loss of such an important figure further disrupted the already struggling T-Birds who were failing to find their usual fluency.
Ts kept working and gradually making ground only to lose the ball and find themselves 40 meters back on the end of a breakaway. The Cheltenham scrum half constantly causing problems with quick taps. Even though the weather was decent, the pitch was damp and the ball greasy, so too many dropped balls lead to too many scrums and a stop start game.
In the last act of the first half, the Cheltenham 8 picked up from the scrum and crashed through a sleeping Ts defence to take the lead once again at 10-7.
This was the equivalent of Cheltenham poking the sleeping bear with a stick.
The half time talk was pretty ferocious and Ts came out for the second half looking a completely different team.
Again in less than a minute from the kick off, Spanish was over the line to put Ts back in front 10-12.
That should have been the end of the matter, but a Yellow card at the breakdown put Ts down to 14 and once again on the back foot. Now visibly the better side, they built pressure and played in the right position on the pitch, South African International Zaza Nojoko kicked 2 vital penalties in the yellow card period to stretch away over the vital 7 point margin ensuring that Cheltenham had to play catch up Rugby.
With Ts back up to 15 players and Cheltenham trying to force the game a yellow card to the home team effectively ended the game. With a player advantage Ts cut loose and 2 trys in 4 minutes opened a 20 point gap.
A visibly fitter T-Birds team ran the clock down to claim the points and with 9 wins out of 9, remain top of Championship One South.
Team: Corales (T), Francis, Harris, Hepper , Harvey, Nojoko (2C, 2P), Radford, Nichols, Foy (T), Micallef, Mountjoy, Jordan. F, Baker, Vazi (T), Phelps. Rep: Wheeler, French(T), Dyche
The T-Birds are away to Henley on Sunday 7th December.
Next home fixture at Oakfield is against Richmond on 14th December. KO expected to be 2.00pm. Keep an eye on the website for updates.
As always, Thurrock Ladies, the T-Birds welcome new players of any standard to their 2 teams.
The 2nd XV is growing weekly and now has its own dedicated Coaching and Management team. Many are beginners, playing in their first Season, so don’t be put off if you are new to the game.
We can promise you great training and a great social life. Just turn up on a Wednesday evening at 7.30.
