Old Albanians Saints 29, Thurrock T-Birds 12

THURROCK coach Andy Yarrow was a disappointed man after a below par first half performance cost T-Birds top spot and pole position in the race for the Championship title today.

While acknowledging his own side's failings, Yarrow was less than happy with the standard of referring and he has called on the game's authorities to take a long hard look at performance levels.

The home side made the most of a poor start by Thurrock and by the break they had established a 17-0 lead. Saints' line speed coupled with some questionable refereeing decisions and some masterful dark arts of forwards play from Saracens player & England's most capped international Rocky Clarke kept Thurrock looking for a plan B.

After the break T-Birds looked like a different side with an improvement in physicality and game management.

Scores from Tamara Nicholls and Maddy Lockwood (who was also voted player of the match for the second game running) were not enough as Saints broke away twice against the run of play to keep their lead.

Thurrock T-Bird hearts were broken when a refereeing blunder resulted in an easily kickable penalty to earn a losing bonus point being changed to a scrum. The losing bonus point would have kept Thurrock top of the Championship table on points difference.

After the game Yarrow said: "I feel sorry for the girls, no doubt OAs deserved the victory today. They were clinical in attack and their line speed in defence left us unable to mount an attack, but I know how much the girls are hurting after this one.

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"It is frustrating that Saints are working so closely with Saracens. Having players like Rocky playing Premiership rugby for Saracens one week then Championship rugby for Old Albanians the next is probably something that should be looked at higher up the food chain. Rocky was your typical irritating experienced forward. She led the OAs' defensive efforts. For a neutral it was probably a pleasure to watch.

"We can only judge our own performance that simply wasn't good enough on the day, but questionable officiating at Championship level is something that really needs to be picked up by the RFU or referees societies.

"Today the referee might have apologised after the game for forgetting he was playing advantage but ultimately the losing bonus point could of been the difference between winning the Championship or not.

"It was a really frustrating day."

As a result Thurrock travel to Blackheath in a fortnight's time knowing that ultimately the Championship destiny is out of their hands. Thurrock need to win with Old Abanians losing to sixth-placed Trojans or T-Birds win with a bonus point and Saints fail to pick up the bonus point.