TWRUFC 1st XV 26 vs Tonbridge / Judds 21

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Match Report

Thanet returned to winning ways with an impressive 26-21 victory over league leaders Tonbridge Juddians 2nd XV (TJ’s), inspired by a superb hat trick of tries from Callum Doody. 

On a cold, but sunny afternoon perfect for rugby the match was preceded with a minute’s celebration in memory of recently lost Past President and Wanderers stalwart Colin Whiteley.

Once underway it quickly became clear this would be a tightly contested encounter between two evenly matched sides. Thanet dominated the scrum throughout while TJ’s held the advantage at the lineout.

The visitors struck first. From a scrum on halfway, TJ’s released their first team centre who powered into Thanet’s 22 before offloading to his midfield partner for the opening try which was duly converted for a 0-7 lead. Thanet responded immediately. A strong break from Harrison, carried on by Doody carried play into TJ’s 22.  Thanet were awarded a scrum and the ball was moved swiftly across the backs with right wing Williams linking neatly with Thompson on the left to finish an excellent try in the corner. The conversion was missed, but the gap between the teams was narrowed to 5-7.

Thompson soon turned defence into attack with a clever hack downfield. Thanet capitalised on a loose clearance and looked certain to score, only for the ball to be knocked on. From the resulting TJ’s scrum, Thanet won a penalty which they chose to run. Walton fed Doody on a hard line and he crashed over for a try, which Walton converted to give Thanet a 12-7 lead.

Discipline became an issue as a series of penalties for ruck infringements and offside offences led to Smith being yellow-carded after repeated team warnings. Reduced to 14 men for the final five minutes of the half Thanet faced sustained pressure.

The second half started and after some sustained pressure TJ’s set up a driving maul inside the Thanet 22, but as the hooker broke away he was smashed backwards by a huge tackle from Clement and that allowed Thanet to clear their lines and resulted in a yellow card for  TJ’s player for complaining to the referee as he did not like being tackled.

TJ’s backs continued to look dangerous and from halfway their centre broke two tackles before sprinting clear for a converted try, edging them back in front 12-14. Thanet responded again. From a lineout on the 10 metre line the ball was moved wide and from the resulting ruck, Miram’s show-and-go split the visitor’s defence. He fed McCourt-Welsh who made further ground before offloading to Doody who powered over for his second try. Walton added the extras to restore Thanet’s lead to 19-14.

The see-saw contest continued. A Thanet attack broke down in the TJ’s half and after Thanet gathered the clearance in the backfield, play moved into a ruck where TJ’s number 5 appeared with the ball and ran in from 40 metres out to score a try that was converted and put the visitor’s ahead 19-21.

Downer made his first appearance of the season following injury and nearly marked his return with a try only to be held up over the line. From the ensuing dropout, Thanet pinned TJ’s in their 22 and through sustained pressure TJ’s were forced to carry the ball over their own line. From the resulting Thanet scrum, Doody ran another destructive line smashing through the defence to complete his hat-trick. Walton converted to make it 26-21 to Wanderers.

A late yellow card for Downer for blocking an attempt at a quick lineout meant that Thanet had to see out the final five minutes of the match with 14 men. However, the forwards closed out the game superbly, denying TJ’s any further scoring opportunities.

This was an excellent all-round performance deserving of maximum points. The scrum provided a solid platform, Doody was outstanding, Thompson completed a full 80 minutes for the first time in three years and Downer made a short, but welcome return from injury.

Tries:

Conversions:

Penalties: None

Drop Goals: None