Although denied the services of several players attending the wedding of Ben Guzman Thornbury showed there was cause for optimism as players put their hands up for selection for the game with Bideford next Saturday.

Thorns hit the ground running and after only two minutes Boris Elloff-Petros won a lineout and the ball was moved across the three-quarter lineout. Wayne Underwood looped around Dai Matthews and created space for Ed Sheldon to race in at the corner flag. Joe Jackson narrowly missed the conversion. From the restart Sheldon and Underwood combined again to open up Devizes but were unable to convert a great opportunity into points. However a minute later Devizes were caught offside and Jackson kicked a penalty for an 8-0 lead.

Paul Lambert was helped off shortly afterwards with a worrying ankle injury. Tom Boaden came on as a replacement but Devizes hit back when after several minutes attacking on the Thornbury line Thorns were caught offside and outside half Andy Thompson kicked a penalty.

Thorns were 8-3 ahead when Thompson was yellow carded following a dangerous tackle on Ed Sheldon. Thornbury Head Coach Gareth Llewellyn asked that Devizes be allowed to bring a replacement on so both teams were at full-strength. When Thompson returned to the field of play ten minutes later he showed excellent sportsmanship by apologising to Sheldon and shaking his hand.

The lead was extended a few minutes after Thompson departed. Thorns won a lineout on the Devizes line and the forwards attempted to rumble over. Tom Boaden added impetus to the drive and the referee awarded the try when the maul crashed over the line. Luke Panting was credited with the score. The conversion missed but Thorns were 13-3 ahead.

After concerted pressure on the Thornbury line Thornbury defended well and forced a turnover but a clearing kick was fielded by the Devizes full-back who chipped over the advancing Thornbury defence, regathered the ball and fed wing Kyle Marsh who ran in unopposed for a try. The conversion missed but Devizes were back in the game trailing 13-8.

Thorns attacked whenever they had the ball and Ed Sheldon joined the line shortly after the restart. He gathered a pass from his ankles and raced upfield beating four men on a fine run. He was caught ten metres out but found Dan Hussey in support who scored the third try. The conversion missed but Thorns were ten points ahead at 18-8.

Devizes showed great resolve and attacked the Thornbury line from the restart but after Thorns turned them over Dai Matthews charged upfield in the 10-12 channel and Ollie Fleming took the ball on to half way. Then from a scrum a minute later George Jackson fed Wayne Underwood whose half-break put Ed Sheldon into space and he out-paced the cover to score his second try. Joe Jackson converted to open up a 25-8 lead at half-time.

Early in the second half Jack Rowe came on for Mike Sander with Tom Boaden moving up to tight head and George Sheldon hooking. Thornbury continued to attack and fifteen minutes into the second half Ed Sheldon completed his hat-trick showing great determination as he drove through three tacklers to ground the ball on the line. Leading 30-8 Thornbury brought on several replacements with Chris Till and Robbie Heaven playing their first rugby of the season and Dan Green replacing Ed Sheldon.

Devizes got back into the game when a powerful rolling maul was illegally pulled down as it rumbled towards the Thornbury line and referee Richard Timbrell was left with no option but to award a penalty try. Thompson converted to make the score 30-15.

Thornbury looked to score again. After a scrum against the head Jack Rowe put pressure on the Devizes scrumhalf and Thorns were awarded a penalty. It was taken quickly and after Mike Gaston had made good ground with a direct run his pass out to Dan Green went to ground and Devizes were able to clear. Tom Head and Ben Read came on with Mike Sander and Boris returning to the side but Thornbury had lost their momentum. The game became scrappy and Thorns allowed Devizes to take the initiative and the Dorset & Wiltshire side controlled the last quarter of the game.

As the game neared its conclusion Devizes reduced the arrears with a fine try from a sixty-metre counter-attack, replacement Callum Conway finishing off the move and running behind the posts for centre Rory Brown to convert.

Devizes played confidently in the last few minutes and threatened to score again but Thornbury’s defence was sound and there was no further score with Thorns winning 30-22.

Thornbury played their normal high-tempo game and created several half-chances but were unable to finish them off. Devizes were unable to deal with the pace of Ed Sheldon and the power of Dai Matthews caused problems with his direct running. The forwards cancelled each other out with both sides having the edge at times.

Bideford travel to Thornbury next Saturday for the opening league game of the season. Devizes travel to Northamptonshire for a tough game with last season’s league runners-up, Towcestrians.

Scorers:
Thornbury: tries - Ed Sheldon (3), Luke Panting and Dan Hussey; conversion - Joe Jackson; penalty - Joe Jackson.
Devizes: tries - Kyle Marsh, Callum Conway and a penalty try; conversions - Andy Thompson, Rory Brown; penalty - Andy Thompson.

Teams:
Thornbury: Ed Sheldon; Mike Gaston, Dan Hussey, Dai Matthews, Ollie Fleming; Wayne Underwood, Joe Jackson; Luke Panting, Mike Sander, George Sheldon, Paul Lambert, James Wood, Boris Elloff-Petros, Liam Pemberton (c), George Jackson
Replacements - Chris Till, Tom Boaden, Jack Rowe, Robbie Heaven, Tom Head, Ben Read, Dan Green
Devizes: Luke Rapson; Rhys Harries, Rory Brown, Mark Carter, Kyle Marsh; Andy Thompson, Tom Collins; Tom Reed, Seb Hutchings, Toby Randall, Martin Bills, James Gaiger, Dean Marshall, Julian Taylor (c), Craig Bryant
Replacements: Chris Lewis, John Angell, Charlie Paget, Callum Conway, Chris Barter

Yellow Card: Devizes - Andy Thompson

Referee: Richard Timbrell (Bristol Society)