Thurrock T-Birds 0, Old Albanians Saints 48

AFTEE run of domination which took T-Birds to second place in the Championship South table and with hopes of overhauling leaders and visitors Saints, everything went wrong for Thurrock's Ladies who suffered a huge defeat at Oakfield on Sunday, 2 November.

The visitors extended their unbeaten run in emphatic style, powering to thumping victory to stay top of the table and leave some of the home players in tears at the final whistle.

Despite the scoreline, it was a tight opening 40 minutes, with Thurrock defending doggedly and the Saints' usual set-piece dominance providing the main platform for attack.

However, Grace Chapman opened the scoring with a trademark carry through traffic before scrum-half Hannah Johnston pounced on an interception to race clear under the posts. Chapman struck again before half-time, sending the visitors into the break 0–19 up.

The second half saw the Saints find another gear. Johnston exploited gaps around the fringes of the breakdown for her second, securing the bonus point, before replacement fly-half Caroline Collie finished a well-worked team move minutes after entering the fray.

From there, the floodgates opened — impact prop Chloe Flanagan produced a storming run, fending off two defenders to crash over, Shaniah Herelle added another out wide, and Mererid Jones capped proceedings by diving onto a pinpoint cross-field kick from Collie to score in the final play of the game.

Ellie Cunningham converted four of the seven tries and was named Player of the Match for her control, composure, and tactical kicking throughout.

Watch the match in full here:-

The look of disbelief on some of the Thurrock players at the end showed how much of a shock the outcome was, but captain Hannah Thornhill bravely gathered her team together and addressed spectators after the match, saying: "A solemn promise you will not see a scoreline like that again."

Among those Hannah spoke to were stalwart supporters of the club.

Among them are Green Building Design, a Hertfordbased multidisciplinary consultancy specialising in sustainable, innovative, and practical buildingservices design solutions.

The company says: "We are proud to sponsor the T-Birds — a team that exemplifies teamwork, determination, and community spirit.

"Our mission as a company is to enhance the health and wellbeing of everyone who occupies the built environment by creating spaces that are comfortable, environmentally sound, functional, and sustainable.

"As a business committed to supporting our local communities, this sponsorship is an opportunity to give back and champion grassroots sport.

"We're especially proud that RosieBennett, our Apprentice Building Services Design Engineer, is a dedicated member of the T-Birds. Rosie's involvement shows how our people bring passion and commitment to everything they do, both professionally and personally.

"At Green Building Design, investing in people is one of our core values. Supporting Rosie and the TBirds reflects our focus on encouraging development, opportunity, and achievement at every level."