It was 15mins in when the YM were awarded a scrum within 10m of the Thurston line. The ball was won and sent down the line to Nicky Van Der Linde who dived over to equal the scoring, Barny Horsfield slotted over the conversion 5-7.

Both teams battled for the next 10mins in the middle of field and it was unclear as to who would take the advantage. It was the visitors who did this when after a good phase of play Van Der Linde scored his second try, again converted by Horsfield 5-14.

Thurston kicked off again and the ball was caught by Chris Blom who charged back like a raging bull into the Thurston half, again the ball was passed through the hands to Cory Parfitt who broke through and scored, with the conversion 5-21, a commanding lead to end the first half.

From the kick off Thurston came back fighting and almost immediately scored under the posts so with the conversion 12-21.

The YM kicked off but with a man in front of the kicker Thurston had a scrum in the centre of the field. From this scrum Thurston’s centre broke through the line and the move ended with their blind side scoring. With the conversion this cut the visitors lead to 4 points 17-21.
Again the next 10-15mins was spent in the middle of the park with both teams battling. Thurston lost their scrum half and then the YM lost their man of the match Van Der Linde with a shoulder injury. For a while the YM were down to 14 as the referee allowed play to continue (Nicky was off the field unbeknown to Clive Bell!).

The YM earnt a penalty and opted for the kick at posts but it went just wide.

10 minutes before the end the YM were left shocked when Thurston managed to score another converted try to give them the lead 24-21, which is how the game ended.

A disappointing end to a great game which saw Thurston take over ownership of the cup from the YM. The second half saw a few close decisions that did not go the YM’s way but well done to the YM who have had had a great season.