Thatcham miss out on bonus

THATCHAM suffered a second league defeat as they lost 15-5 at home to Gosford All Blacks in the Tribute Southern Counties North.

Gosford had an excellent kicker in outside centre Jack Mccomb and he took advantage of Thatcham’s profligacy, kicking five out of five penalties, many from distance.

The visitors were six points ahead within 20 minutes, but Thatcham were winning plenty of possession, thanks to a superior set piece.

The Thatcham try came shortly before the end of the half to make it 6-5 at the break.

The home side had been labouring in Gosford’s 22 for most of the final 10 minutes, but eventually scored from a pushover, with scrum-half Dan Tingle touching down.

Unfortunately, Thatcham failed to tidy up their game after the break and although the next quarter was spent going forward in the opposition half, the errors kept on coming.

At last, with less than 20 minutes left on the clock, Gosford managed to break out of their half and, although Thatcham managed to defend without massive pressure, the penalties kept on coming, often as a result of players being isolated.

Three more successful penalty conversions from Mccomb in the final 10 minutes ensured victory for the visitors and denied Thatcham a losing bonus in a game they really should have had sewn up.

This weekend, Thatcham travel to Shipston on Stour.

Thatcham: Callum Stewart, Jo Bovington, Derek Alan, David Clarke, Nick Rance, Toby Littlechild, Dan Tingle, Dave Chambers, Ash Taylor, James Thorogood, Graeme McDiarmid, George Seymour, Rich Browne, Charlie Rayner, Laurie McCutcheon, Tim Apperley, Andrew Arnold, Matt Hamilton.