Thurrock 12, Sudbury 62

THURROCK were forced to make a whole raft of changes right up until kick-off at Oakfield on Saturday, including a last-minute decision by the influential Tom Worsfold whose father, Thurrock legend, Peter Worsfold was foul of injury himself!

The upshot was that the home side could never hold back the tide against the efficient and ruthless performance of the table-toppers who look odds-on favourites for promotion.

Thurrock got off to a disappointing start as an early error of kicking directly into touch was punished by the first converted try. This increased the confidence of Sudbury who soon doubled their lead after a driving maul.

Sudbury have some outstanding players including Jake Sumner, the son of coach and former Sudbury great, Dick Sumner. Captain Henry Cowling carried venomously while fly-half, Mark Rust controlled matters in the middle of the field.

The outstanding performer on the day though was fleet-footed winger Jonathan Taylor whose sheer pace was too hot to handle.

Sudbury raced into an unassailable lead, punctuated only by some stubborn resistance from the irrepressible Henry Bird, Ben Timson and Niall Clifford.

Lewis Cross and Caolan Watts-Adams were always in the thick of the action and, indeed, it was the latter who charged down a kick and dribbled over in the manner of Graham Price and Gethin Jenkins to bring a glimmer of hope to their team. The absence of a kicking tee, left Henry Bird with little option to produce a sensational drop-goal conversion.

Ahmed Aminou was strong under pressure and Niall Clifford burst into the line to crash through the defence with Bird wishing somebody hadn't found a kicking tee as he pushed the conversion wide.

That was the end of Thurrock's resistance as Sudbury consolidated their position at the top of the table and Thurrock were left ruing the fact that even skipper, Charlie Russo, was a victim of the Covid regulations!

The only Thurrock man who might have gained a grain of comfort was former Thurrock captain, Norman Brown, who played for both clubs in the seventies and eighties and what a fine player he was, too!

This week Thurrock are away to Amersham and Chiltern, while the Ladies entertain Richmond at home on Sunday.