The South Gloucestershire side’s victory was built on a tenacious and disciplined defensive display that frustrated the home side for long periods. The game’s finale was a frantic and nerve jangling affair with the Saints leading by a point and the eighty minutes up. What would have been a game winning kick to touch was charged down and recovered by Thorn to eventually set up the winning penalty kick. In a game of few try scoring opportunities the Thorns deserved their victory for ruthlessly taking the openings that came their way and crucially scoring a try while playing into the gale force gusts. The defeat saw the end of the Saints’ two year undefeated home league record, Truro were the last side to take league points from Tregorrick when they won 9-0 in February 2012.

Thornbury had first use of the strong blustery wind blowing the length of the field. This was only the Saints second game since 14 December 2013 and the lack of playing time had a telling effect with their normal cohesion missing during the opening quarter. Both sides struggled initially to adapt to the conditions and the first half was a stop start affair. Despite the wind turbo charging clearance kicks Thornbury rarely troubled the home side’s try line. A catch and drive on 25 minutes was driven over the line but the Saints defence held firm to keep the ball up and eventually clear their lines. The breakthrough came on 36 minutes with the hosts’ architect of their own downfall. A promising Saints attack came to an abrupt end when the ball was lost in contact. The ball was kicked out of defence from under the shadow of the posts and travelled 50 wind assisted metres down field. The chasing Thorn players isolated the returning ball carrier who was forced to give away a penalty for holding on. Centre Rob Higgitt was the first to react and he spotted the Saints defence was out of position for the first time in the match. The ex-Bristol, Scarlets and Worcester Warriors player tapped the penalty and ran 40m straight through the heart of the Saints’ defence to score under the posts with barely a hand laid upon him. Higgitt’s quick thinking ensured an easy conversion for fellow centre Tim Stephens to put the visitors 7-0 up at half time.

Saints started the second half with purpose and looked to harness the wind to keep the visitors pegged back in their 22. However the Cornishmen were rocked back on their heals when the visitors stormed up field through a succession of powerful drives. When winger Mike Gaston fly-hacked the ball through it caused all sorts of panic in the Saints defence. The home side looked to have escaped when the ball bounced off the post protector but a poor clearance kick returned the initiative to Thorn. The ball was gathered by winger Dan Hussey who emulated Higgitt’s earlier run to score under the posts. Stephens’ conversion put the visitors 14-0 ahead with 30 minutes to go. Thorns’ aggressive and well marshalled defence was holding the Saints at bay so it took the move of the match to finally get points on the board. A flowing move saw the Saints clock up the phases until flanker Paul Winterbottom burst through a gap. Fly half Matt Shepherd cleverly used the wind to curl the conversion over from a difficult angle. From the kick off the Saints thought they had a scored another try when centre Alex Welland volleyed the restart kick straight back into the Thornbury half and chased it all the way into the try zone. Full back Ed Sheldon’s blushes were saved when the referee decided that Welland did not ground the ball as he dived at the feet of the Thornbury’s number 15. A Shepherd penalty closed the gap to 14-10 and on 70 minutes winger Ashley Taylor finished off good work by the home pack to put the Saints in front by a point. The hard work was undone when the Saints knocked on at the restart and penalised for holding on. Stephens hit an excellent penalty into the wind but the lead was short lived as Shepherd replied minutes later to make 18-17 with 5 minutes left. Thorn went in search of the win as the clock ticked down but the home side stayed strong and disciplined. With the 80 minutes up, the Saints turned over the ball and it just needed to reach touch to grab the win. Disaster struck for the Saints as Shepherd’s kick was charged down and gathered by Thorn. An attempted drop goal by fly half Wayne Underwood was charged down but crucially it was the visitors’ back row that gathered the ball. To the dismay of the Tregorrick faithful the Saints were penalised for coming in at the side and it was left to Stephens to kick the winning penalty in the 84th minute.

The Saints face a difficult trip to Somerset next week to face fellow promotion challengers Chard (KO 2:30pm).

Match Stats:
St Austell: Noott; Grigg (Jack); Martin; Grigg (Jeremy); Pearce (A); Winterbottom; Venner; Kellow; Ashwin; Shepherd (Captain); Chenoweth; Welland; Wilson; Taylor; Pearce (D)
Replacements: Rowe; Howorth; Murley T

St Austell:
Tries – Winterbottom (61) Taylor (70)
Cons – Shepherd (61)
Pens – Shepherd (64, 75)
Drop Goal –

Thornbury:
Tries – Higgitt (36); Hussey (50)
Cons – Stephens (36, 50)
Pens – Stephens (73, 84)
Drop Goal –

Yellow Cards:
St Austell: None
Thornbury: None

Red Cards:
St Austell: None
Thornbury: None

Referee: Ryan Cook (Cornwall RRS)
Saints Man of the Match: Ian Venner