Hakes Undone By Young Thornbury Side

Thornbury 49 v 20 St Ives

Last Saturday St Ives made the long trip to Bristol side Thornbury in their latest South West One West League encounter.

Several changes were made from the last game at Okehampton, Ben Taylor moved to hooker in the absence of player coach Rob Elloway. Ben Jenkins returned at prop and Sam Carter started at fly half with Adam Hosking not available. New signing Alistair Stacey was named on the bench.

Thornbury started the game well and soon put the Hakes under pressure. In the 7th minute they took a 7 points to nil lead when Dan Hussey raced over for a try with Jake Wood adding the extras.

St Ives continued to look slightly jaded possibly from their 5 hour coach trip and the home side took full advantage of it and doubled their lead in the 11th minute when Harry Glew scored their second try of the match. Once again Wood slotted the conversion to put the home side 14 points to nil ahead.

St Ives grabbed their first points from a penalty kick from the boot of Sam Carter in the 12th minute to reduce the deficit to 11 points.

Thornbury were growing in confidence and began to look dangerous. Once again in the 17th minute they crossed the whitewash through Harry Glew this time un-converted but now they held a significant advantage over the Hakes at 19 points to 3.

No change in the score before half time left St Ives with a mountain to climb in the second half of the game against a Thornbury side that had their tails up.

Ben Jenkins about to secure his hat trick

The home side scored the first points after the restart when Wood kicked a penalty to increase their advantage to 22 points to 3. Then only 5 minutes later they scored their 4th and bonus point try when Richard Bennetts went over. The conversion was missed but the scoreboard was looking a little one sided at Thornbury 27, St Ives 3.

In the 56th minute St Ives were awarded a penalty for a high tackle which Carter despatched into the corner. This gave the St Ives pack the chance to use their weight advantage and sure enough they crossed for their first try of the match a few phases later through prop Ben Jenkins. The conversion was missed to make the score 27- 8.

The Hakes entered their best spell of the match following their opening try. They began to ask questions of the Thornbury defence and began to force them into errors. Thornbury’s 7 Louis Osborne was shown yellow for not retreating 10 yards at a penalty, but the Hakes could not punish the home side and instead found themselves defending against another Thornbury attack.

It was the hosts who scored the next points when Sam Evans was pushed over for a try which was converted by Wood to make the score 34-8.

St Ives continued to threaten during their best spell of the match and another opportunity for points soon came St Ives way which prop Ben Jenkins finished off to score his second try of the match. No conversion made the score 34-13 with 70 minutes played.

St Ives reduced the deficit further with another try from their man of the match Ben Jenkins who completed his hatrick in the 73rd minute this time with Carter converting to make the score 34-20. However despite the flurry of points from the Hakes it was the home side who finished with a flourish adding a penalty from Jake Wood in the 73rd minute (37-20) and a try and conversion from Wood himself in the 77th minute (44-20).

The final act of the match was another try for the home side the time by Dan Hussey with his second of the game, no conversion and the final score was set at Thornbury 49, St Ives 20.

This fourth successive defeat for St Ives sees them hold onto 6th place in the league table 2 points ahead of 7th placed North Petherton. With no game this coming Saturday the Hakes has plenty of time to prepare for the visit of Teignmouth to Alexandra Road. Kick off in St Ives on the 23rd of March is scheduled for 2:30pm; any home support would be very welcome.

St Ives: Ben Jenkins, Ben Taylor, Leigh Hocking, Jamie Prisk, Ben Watson, Jamie Hoskin, Joji Volaisaya, Martyn Lawrance, Liam Jolly, Sam Carter, Dan Magee, Joe Parma, Tom Nicholas (Captain), Lewis Vinnicombe, Jack Kessell.

Replacements : Alistair Stacey (Used), Connor Bick (Not Used).