City on form against a strong, fast and young Thatcham team and go "TOP OF THE LEAGUE"

City go TOP OF THE LEAGUE against a strong Thatcham team.

City were back on form on Saturday afternoon with a comprehensive win over mid-table Thatcham showing their superior scrimmaging and rucking ability to overthrow a young and fast Thatcham team.

In addition to a good victory Reading Abbey managed to lose to Wallingford allowing City to move to the top of the table with a game in hand to Abbey.

The major test is next Saturday with an away game against Grove who are in third position and share the same number of games as City.

The match on Saturday started well with Rob Matthews scoring with less than two minutes into the game with some poor defence by the visitors, with Phil Powell providing the conversion to make an early impact on the game. The lead only lasted a matter of minutes as the Thatcham centre collected a dropped ball and covered half the pitch to score under the posts.

With less than five minutes gone the score was 7 – 7.
Soon after Phil Powell was on the score sheet again. Following a scrappy Thatcham lineout Powell was able to collect the ball and make it over the try line. He converted his own try to return to a 7 point lead.

City continued to dominate. Dan Rolfe, at number eight, had an impressive game and was soon on the scoreboard collecting a ball from the back of a scrum and powering his way over.

Soon after there was a lapse in MK concentration allowing Thatcham to break a couple of tackles and score under the posts. With a successful conversion the score was now 19 – 12.

Following the breakdown of a Thatcham attack the ball was hoofed down the pitch with Gavin Whitehead able to collect the ball and make the try line with Phil Powell once again converting.

Thatcham continued on the back foot and struggled to clear the ball from the 5 metre line. The ball came to Rob Lasbrey who popped the ball to Matt Styles to score. By half time the score was 36 – 12.
Darren Brodrick was the next to score following another run by Rob Lasbrey with yet another Phil Powell conversion.

City sat back midway through the second half allowing Thatcham a couple of scores before City again dominated by the end of the game with their back to form rucking being too much for a tired Thatcham to cope with, City were just too dominant and so it was when Jaime Trivino came on as replacement flanker with fresh legs and soon put his name on the scoreboard with a good try.

Richard Hill was next on the scoreboard following a quickly taken penalty and Hill forcing his way over. Dan Rolfe completed the scoring with 5 minutes of the match remaining with an individual run down the left wing.

All eyes are now looking to the following weekend with the most important game of the season away to Grove.