Fakenham 40 - 12 Thetford 30.10.21 London 3 Eastern Counties

Fakenham welcomed Thetford to the Stringer Ground for the sixth round of the London 3 Eastern Counties League. With Thetford just one place below Fakenham in the table, the home side hoped to change their recent luck and secure a win.

They didn’t have to wait long after kick off for the first score, with Henry Hepworth-Smith making a break which was offloaded first to Joe Bane-Young and then to James Howell, before being spun out wide to Ashley Stewart who went over for the try. With a tricky angle on the conversion, Luke Boynes was unable to add the extra two.

Ashley Stewart quickly followed with another break, and what looked like a try for outside centre Charlie Harding, but it was deemed no score. Despite Thetford recovering possession, persistent pressure from Fakenham earned them a scrum from which loose head prop Luke Patey powered over. The try again went unconverted, but took the score to 10 – 0 after 15 minutes.

Plenty of promising play followed for Fakenham, but they were unable to add further points, and it was Thetford who scored next, managing to find a gap in the Fakenham defence. They were able to convert, and the teams went in 10 – 7 at half time.

Fakenham came back out hungry for more, and a good break from Luke Boynes followed up by sustained Fakenham pressure in Thetford’s 22 won them a penalty. Luke Boynes slotted it over for another three. This was quickly followed by an impressive run from Tom Bane-Young up the wing, who managed to offload to keep the ball live before he was spun into touch. A few phases later and Luke Boynes went over for the try and then converted his own score.

With the fine conditions favouring Fakenham’s fast-paced game, Joe Bane-Young was able to find a gap and gain good territory, offloading to Luke Boynes for the bonus-point fourth try. Another good conversion followed shortly afterwards by penalty kick from Luke Boynes took the score to 28 – 7 after around 55 minutes.

A pacey break from Luke Boynes on the half way line followed by a chip through and pressure on the defenders gave Fakenham their next opportunity. It looked like a frustrating missed chance when Thetford turned the ball over and battled up to Fakenham’s own 22, but the home side managed to recover possession and Tom Bane-Young raced back to Thetford’s end. An offload to Harry Richardson and then again to Ashley Stewart put the latter over for his second try of the game. The conversion bounced off the post, but Fakenham were now 33 – 7 ahead.

Thetford answered shortly afterwards, using their pack to push over for a try in the corner, but it was too little too late and they were unable to shift Fakenham’s momentum. Indeed the home side had the final word, with a try of their own in the corner, the ball grounded by Harry Richardson after good team pressure.

With a final score of 40 – 12 it was a resounding home victory for Fakenham, who played an exciting, high tempo game with plenty of offloads and opportunity. They will hope to take this momentum forward into their next match, away against Newmarket.

The match was well-attended following a pre-match luncheon sponsored by AED & Partners. Ashley Stewart was given the Barsham Brewery man of the match for his overall performance, making some good line breaks in attack, and topping it off with two tries. Next week sees the first XV travel to Newmarket for their next league fixture.