Western Counties North - Thornbury 12 Stroud 18.

STROUD stretched their unbeaten run to four games at Thornbury, writes Andy Toohig.

Thornbury were frenetic from the kick off, but it was astute kicking from Simon Weaver in particular who pinned Stroud back in their own half.

A little against the run of play Stroud opened the scoring when from a scrum John Wand made a neat break, he hacked on and Matt Fogarty chased hard to collect and score.

Thornbury continued to make good use of the slope and the tactic of kicking that although not pretty was very effective.

Thornbury had a couple of deep attacking lineouts that Stroud defended well, but were finally undone when a ruck formed behind Stroud's try line.

The ball was secured but Evan Hughes came round the ruck and touched the unattended ball down. Weaver converted well.

Stroud tried to break the stranglehold, but too many times hard won ball was kicked away needlessly or fell short of the touchline.

It allowed Thornbury to maintain their initiative and were again rewarded for their efforts when following a lineout a ruck formed.

Stroud defended but the ball was driven over by Carl Boucher, although this was hotly disputed by Stroud's forwards.

Stroud had much to do trailing 12-5 at half-time but closed the gap when Josh Lister slotted a penalty after Thornbury were pinged for not rolling away after a tackle.

With the slope now in Stroud's favour it was the hosts who found difficulty coping. Stroud's pack dominated and through them they retook the lead when captain, Adam Tarplee, was driven over.

It was now all one way traffic. Ben Brinkworth, who featured in a few drives, made way for Andy Jarrett, making life considerably worse for the Thornbury front row as the tighthead made an immediate impact.

The Thornbury eight were in disarray and were marched backwards at an attacking scrum allowing Judd Martin to complement his days' efforts with a deserved try.

Barney O'Dowd had been in the thick of it all day, trying many times to ensure there was a good defensive line between him on the wing and his centres; that hadn't always been the case.

He made a telling late run but was stopped short of the try line. He did manage to stretch out his arm and ground the ball over the line though but with the referee distant and unsighted it wasn't given. It was a let off for Thornbury who now rallied.

Desperate defending from Stroud wasn't always enough to keep Thornbury's three's at bay and fortunately for Stroud it was Thornbury who through knock on's and forward passes threw away try scoring opportunites.

It gave Stroud a final lease but a generous six minutes of added time took an age to pass before the whistle blew.

*Stroud entertain Berry Hill at Fromehall Park on Saturday, 3pm.