Thurrock T-Birds away at West Bridgford

Over 3 hours on a coach is not ideal preparation for a Quarter Final of a National Cup, but it made no difference as 4 trys in the first half had the game won against a West Bridgford side who looked overawed by the pace and power of the T-Birds.
The first scrum against a much bigger West Bridgford pack looked ominous as the T-Birds went backwards, and for a little while it looked as though it might be a hard day at the office. However, Ts quickly achieved parity in the scrum and dominance in just about every other aspect of the game.
With the pack supplying plenty of ball, the backs cut Bridgford to shreds. Jodie Rettie, Sophie Tyler and India Harvey dominating the midfield in both defence and attack.
Harvey and Rettie both crossed the line in the first 20 minutes and then the boot of Rettie kept Bridgford pinned in their own half.
Kara Hepper and Mercedes Foy in particular carried hard and the pace of Sally Tuson and Dannie Harries were constant threats on the outside.
As Ts put together a purple patch, Rebecca Prosser and Sally Tuson crossed the line in the last 5 minutes to bring the half time score to 0-24 and pretty much make the game safe.
Tyler and Tuson crossed the line in the first 10 minutes of the second half for 0-34 and for a little while it looked like a complete route was on the cards.
At this point the Referee seemed to decide that the game needed evening up and pretty much whistled Ts off the park.
Having conceded only 4 penalties in the whole first half, the referee awarded something like 15 in the last 30 minutes along with 2 Yellow cards.
Bridgford were quick to take advantage and used their big pack to good effect forcing Ts to put in tackle after tackle. They duly collected their reward with a try and conversion to make the final score 7-34.
T’s are now in the Semi Final and await the draw with some anticipation.

Team: J. Mountjoy, M. Foy, K. Hepper, R French, T. Nichols, S. Franklin, R. Prosser (T), F. Jordan, G. Cook, J. Rettie (T), D. Harris, I. Harvey (T), S. Tyler (T), S. Tuson (2T), N. Cameron.
Bench: A. Shaw, R. Cook, H. Walsh