Saturday. 12th January.
Wadworth 6X South West Div.
Frome RFC 1st 36 Thatcham RFC 1st 17
The Frome RFC 1st welcomed Thatcham RFC 1st to Gypsy Lane on Saturday (12th Jan) expecting a difficult battle, having narrowly won away earlier in the season.
Frome started strongly and exerted pressure on the visitors’ defence. After several phases, Prop Aaron Blaney took the ball at pace 5 metres out and crashed over for the first try of the day, this was duly converted by James Howard.
The home side continued to dominate and after sterling work from the forwards at close quarters, the ball was spun out wide to find Fullback Daniel Arbury who rounded the visitors’ defence to score an unconverted try.
The pressure on the Thatcham line continued and joint man of the match, Robert James, found a great line to score close to the posts for a try, which was converted by Howard. The final action of the half saw centre Ali Frost bundled over for the bonus point try. Half time came with Frome leading 24-0.
Half Time: Frome RFC 1st 24 – 0 Thatcham RFC 1st.
The second half started with the Thatcham kick not going 10 metres and from the resultant scrum, Frost burst through the visitors’ defence and then released joint man of the match, Rob Sully, to score in the corner, the extras being added by Howard.
Frome maintained pressure on the Thatcham line shortly after, and following a five metre scrum for Thatcham, Flanker Matt Smith was able to charge down the clearance kick and Captain Ross Toten was quickest to react to touch the ball down.
The visitors however never gave up and looked dangerous when they had ball in hand. With Frome relaxing, the visitors got themselves back into the game and scored 3 late tries to make the final score 36-17.
Final Score: Frome RFC 1st 36 – 17 Thatcham RFC 1st.
Frome RFC maintain their place at 2nd in Southern Counties South and on Saturday, they travel to Bath to face 3rd place Walcot RFC. When the sides met earlier in the season it was Frome who came out on top with a 26-8 win, but the men in red, white & black will know a tough battle awaits them.
