Thornhill Trojans hurt by offloads in heavy defeat to Crosfields

This tactic from Crosfields proved to be extremely effective and saw the visitors grow in confidence the longer the game went on.

As a result Thornhill crumbled and the full-time whistle could not come quick enough to end their nightmare.

The Trojans gave debuts to Liam Pritchard at hooker and youngster Oscar Rushforth on the wing. However, this was a disjointed performance with little for their fans to get excited about.

Man of the match for the Trojans was full-back Brad Llewellyn who scored a spectacular solo try, but he had to leave the field in the second half with a shoulder injury. There was also an encouraging performance from scrum-half Ryan Mitchell.

The game was quite evenly matched for the opening 20 minutes with the teams exchanging tries.

Crosfields' Pat Flannery built on good work from his forwards when he broke away to score a try in the corner. Brad Stanway converted.

But a fantastic piece of opportunism from Llewellyn created Thornhill's first try as he chipped the ball high into the air, gave chase, collected cleanly and strode over for a try. Mitchell converted.

Crosfields then began to build some momentum. The ball was worked along the attacking line until it reached their huge second row man Elliot Likll who went through a gap and over for an unconverted try.

Some soft defence work from Thornhill allowed Crosfields to score their next try. With plenty of momentum, Crosfields threw the ball around at will until Tom Smith finished the move. Stanway converted.

Thornhill then conceded an even softer try when they stood back and allowed a Crosfields attacker to pass the ball out. it went into the in-goal area and Ben Steele pounced on the unattended ball to score an unconverted try.

The swirling wind was helping to keep the score down with several goal attempts being off target. But right on half-time Crosfields once again offloaded the ball in the tackle and Sam Hickey raced over with Stanway improving the try.

There were some frank exchanges of views among the Thornhill players during the interval. However, this seemed to have little impact as straight from the restart Crosfields scored when John Whittaker sold a dummy to create enough space to go over. Stanway converted.

Then came Thornhill's best spell of the game. Good runs from Zak Chatterton and Oscar Rushforth took Thornhill close to the try line. Bailey Lee then burrowed his way over for an unconverted try.

Crosfields had Jack Williams sin-binned for a high tackle and the Trojans used their extra man advantage immediately when Mitchell raced over for an unconverted try.

But this was all Thornhill had left to offer as it was all Crosfields from then on.

John Whittaker stepped back inside to score an unconverted try in the corner.

A missed tackle in front of the posts then allowed Stanway to sprint over and convert his own try.

In the closing moments Thornhill had Pritchard sin-binned for lifting in the tackle.

As the final act of the game Steele went over for his second try to bring an end to this sorry showing from the relegated Thornhill.

Trojans: Brad Llewellyn; Richard Llewellyn, Sam Ratcliffe, Jacob Holmes, Oscar Rushforth; Bailey Lee, Ryan Mitchell; Harvey Roberts, Liam Pritchard, Oliver Brown, Jake Hickling, Ryan Hardcastle, Jake Wilson. Subs: Jarren Egan, Josh Riley, Zak Chatterton, Liam Harley.