SOUTHWOLD 36 - 12 THURSTON

WOLD MAKE IT SIX WINS FROM SIX TO STAY TOP

Match Report written by David Vaughan

For the first ten minutes of the game it was Thurston who looked like the table topping side, not Wold as they piled the pressure on Wold and kept the ball well for most of that period
Thurston's play did not reflect their bottom of the table position and even though Wold had the advantage of the wind behind them they couldn't get out of their own half, but their defence held tight under constant Thurston pressure
Good kicking from Callum Anthony from penalties twice took Wold into Thurston's twenty two and from the first lineout on twenty minutes a try nearly resulted but Stuart Butler just failed to control the ball as he was about to crash through for the first score.
From the second lineout on the half hour Wold again won good ball and fed the ball out to the right and Callum Anthony dummied before slipping the ball back inside to prop Chris Aldous who crashed over for a good try under the posts and Middleditch duly converted to make it 7-0 to Wold
A fumbled take straight from the kick off led to a Thurston scrum close to the Wold line and Thurston took full advantage to drive over and score in the corner, and with the conversion missed it instantly made the score 7-5 to Wold
Another great positional kick from Callum Anthony just before half time, led to a five meter lineout and Skipper Sam Webb took a great ball at the back of the line and the eight man drive that followed led to colt Zak Loader breaking round the blind side to score a well worked try, his first for the ones, and with the conversion missed Wold led 12 - 5 at half time
Straight from the restart a missed Thurston touch kick led to a penalty for offside and quick thinking from Ben Haddingham at full back who took a quick tap penalty led to a Josh Crick try in the far corner after some good Wold handling across the pitch and again the conversion was missed to make it
19 - 5 to Wold
Man of the match Haddingham then ran a great line himself on 47 minutes cutting through the Thurston line from full back to run clear and score a try to make it 24 - 5 to Wold who again just missed the conversion
Five minutes later came one of the most spectacular incidents of the game when Thurston were clean through after a wayward Wold pass and with only five metres to go Josh Crick dived in despair a pulled off a great tap tackle and Wold scrambled the ball clear to prevent what had looked like a nailed on score to Thurston
In a role reversal carbon copy of Wold's try just before half time, Thurston kicked for position from a penalty, won the lineout ball and drove over the line for their second try and a great kick from the touchline drew the score back to 24 - 12 to Wold and only ten minutes later Thurston missed a penalty 30 metres out in front of the posts

Ten minutes from time Southwold won a scrum 40 metres out and from a seemingly harmless position Josh Crick stepped inside beat the Thurston defence and ran in for a great individual try which Middleditch converted to make it 31 - 12 to Wold
With only three minutes left on the clock scrum half Middleditch made a great break and off loaded to young colt Phil Pymer who like Loader earlier then scored his first try for the first team to make it 36 - 12 at the whistle
On the day Wold were a little below par, and the score flattered them a little against a Thurston team that kept battling hard and deserved more from the game
However the bonus point win maintained Wolds three point lead at the top of the table in Eastern Counties 1 and next week sees a tough away trip to Wymondham

'Arn the Wold !!!!

MOM Ben Haddingham