Last Gasp McNally try wins it for T's

Thurrock's under 14s welcomed Basildon on Sunday in what was a physical game between the two young sides.

T's started in the ascendancy and dominated the first 5 minutes. Strong carries from Rio, Max & AJ put Basildon under pressure while the power of Joe H & Sonny helped to control the rucks.

Basildon were struggling to deal with Ts early physicality and conceded a few penalties. Will's kicking to touch was on point and gave us some good field position which allowed the forwards to show off all of the hard work they have been putting into the lineouts. Max took over throwing duties and his perfect throws allowed Harvey to set up a driving maul. Basildon managed to halt the drive but Lewis' quick delivery put the backs into action. Connor carried into contact, but clever work from Jaxon saw him wrap around and put Will into space. Will did well to fend off his opposite man before powering over the try line for his first try of the season. Connor was on kicking duty and hit a lovely conversion to put us into a 7-0 lead after 5 minutes.

Will powering over for his try

The next 15 minutes belonged to the visitors however as our boys dropped their level and Basildon grew in confidence. It did give us a chance to see the boys working hard in defence and there was some great tackling by Logan & Aston in particular. Basildon were kept at bay by our boys strong defence and on the occasions that they managed to drive over our line, "Man of the Match" Joe P was on hand to hold them up and alleviate the pressure on us.

The boys did so well to propel the Basildon attacks with Rio, Joe H & Harvey doing well to rip the ball of the opposition. Lewis and Jaxon kept the backs ticking over, however as it looked like we were getting the ball into the right spaces, a cross field kick landed in the Basildon wingers hands and he streaked away unopposed to score under our posts. The Basildon kick was unsuccessful keeping us in the lead 7-5.

This seemed to spring the boys into action and the boys lifted their work rate, some great carries and work at the breakdown from Fred allowed Lewis some quick ball to the backs. Slick passing from Jaxon, Will & Connor finally brought Thomas into the game and the speedster wreaked havoc in the Basildon defence with 2 trademark powerful runs. When it looked like Ts were on for their 2nd try, Basildon somehow managed to get the ball and quickly kicked it out to bring an end to the half and T's momentum.

As is usual with our large squad, we made 11 changes at the break which disrupted us a little. T's shored up the scrums and rucks and the battle between the 2 sets of forwards was titanic. The inclusion of Romeo for his first appearance for Ts and Benji & Darius seemed help control the scrums. Samuel seemed to add a bit more spice to the forwards as he carried well from the back of the scrums.

Basildon had no answer for Nifemi's strength as he broke through numerous tackles every time he touched the ball. Hudson got involved at every chance and his powerful running was causing lots of problems for the visitors. Basildon rarely went wide with the ball, but when they did, both Oliver and Charlie were on hand to thwart their attacks with some fine tackling. Again, as it looked like we were getting into our stride, we started to give away some needless penalties for holding on and Basildon were able to pin us back into the corner. Great work from Tyler in the breakdown saw us win possession back but an accidental knock on saw a Scrum awarded to Basildon close to our try line. Basildon were able to drive over this time and scored a well deserved try that again wasn't converted to make the score 7-10 to Basildon.

The game entered the final 5 minutes and you could see the determination in the boys play as they chased the winning score. The re-introduction of Harvey and Max saw them carry hard into the Basildon defence and great work in the rucks from all of our forwards saw us maintain possession. Ben's quick delivery kept Basildon on the back foot as Samuel made great inroads into the Basildon half. As we went wide, George's sidestepping had the Basildon players all at sea but a great cover tackled managed to stop our attack.

Connor had also come back onto the field for the injured Thomas and he found himself with the ball with seconds to go. He threw a sensational dummy to fool the defence before a speculative chip over the defence looked to have seen the game away from Thurrock as Basildon had men in the backfield to cover. Connor had other ideas though as he worked his magic, sprinted after his kick and was able to dive on the ball in the corner to put T's in the lead with the final play of the game. Max was unlucky with the touchline conversion but it didn't matter. T's had won the game and the boys celebrated a hard fought win

Connor was the matchwinner for Under 14s

Next week, we welcome Southend to Oakfield. Kick off is at 11am