Thetford went away to the windy ground of Southwold for this week’s clash which the home side kicked off to the Thetford pack.

It wasn’t long until Southwold scored their first try right under the sticks but this early score didn’t bother Thetford as they replied straight away after Luke Boynes restarted which Josh Clark plucked out of the air and ran in to score a try which Matthew Briggs converted.

Thetford then had to fight Southwold away from their try line but, after holding them up over the line once, they conceded again right near the posts so Southwold’s kicker had an easy conversion.

Once the game slowed down Thetford started to play their patterns more. Boynes, Adam Harper and Rory Williams carried well up the park with Ryan Gardiner and Zak Pizzey running riot on each wing.

Thetford’s well deserved try finally came when Pizzey made a break on the right wing. He was tackled and Max Wilson moved the ball quickly to Briggs who saw the space and chipped through for Gardiner who pressured his opposite number and he was forced to put the ball down over his own line meaning Thetford had the scrum. Wilson fed to the forwards, Richard Sharp’s foot hooked the ball back and Williams picked up and dived over the line to score. The wind took Briggs’s conversion wide.

Before the half was over Thetford had some more defending to do but tackling from Aaron Stokoe, Ben Waters and Clark meant Southwold didn’t score again before the break so this made the half-time score 14-12.

After the break Thetford put themselves under immediate pressure, the ball was kicked over to Clark, who then tried to step his way out of the Thetford 22 but was caught and turned over which meant Southwold had the numbers to score the first try of the half, and it certainly wasn’t their last. They scored three more tries before the game was over.

Thetford kept trying to get their game restarted. Barnes, Sharp and Stokoe along with the rest of the forward were winning the ball in scrums and lineouts, Rix kept causing havoc at the ruck and mauls but Thetford failed to find the pass to get them over the try line before the referee blew his final whistle. This meant the game finished 46-12 – a very disappointing day at the office

Next week Thetford host Norwich Crusaders at Two Mile Bottom while the Heathens are away in a local derby with Swaffham II. Enviro Waste Man of the Match: Kain Rix