Thetford 30, Mildenhall 5

RUGBY: Thetford played Mildenhall in a friendly to mark the opening of their refurbished clubhouse — thanks to Graham Tweed of Dexter’s Building Supplies.

The game started with Thetford on the front foot, pressing hard on the Mildenhall line, but despite making three clean breaks Thetford were unable to score thanks to some very determined tackling by Mildenhall defence.

Thetford were starting to get frustrated, until a well-worked move saw Dexters’ man of the match Matt Bailey taking a pop pass and scoring a well- worked try. This was followed shortly by Thetford’s second try again by Bailey, who took another pop pass into space and streaked away from the Mildenhall defence.

Thetford were never quite in control thanks to Mildenhall’s “never say die” spirit and their constant ‘tap and go’ penalty moves. The half finished with a try from fly-half Tony Watson scoring after a sweet dummy and side-step under the posts to make it 20–0.

Thetford’s half-time team talk seemed to have worked when they scored when Martin Sands bulldozed his way over the line from the kick-off.

The game then became a very scrappy affair and the frustration became too much for coach Ian Reynolds to take and with his first touch he scored in the corner.

With time running out Mildenhall launched one last attack on the Thetford try line and were rewarded with a very fine try of their own, to make the final score 30–5.

Anybody interested in playing rugby can contact Ollie Taylor on 079474429. Training is every Tuesday and Thursday at Thetford Rugby Club, Two Mile Bottom at 7pm.