Stratford Eltham Thunder rugby team: Battle to stay in top four

The Stratford Eltham Thunderdivision one team played against Coastal. Photo / Jon Palmer

This Stratford Eltham Thunder division one faced off against Coastal.

In the return game Thunder was keen to reverse the last-minute defeat they suffered in the first half of the season.

Going into the match the team knew this mid-table game was key to remaining in the top-four positions for the end-of-year finals.

Both teams were evenly pitched. The Coastal offence was first to put points on the board, scoring an unconverted try, soon to be followed by another.

Thunder was undeterred and replied with a converted try going into halftime 7-12 down. The second half proved to be a battle of attrition with both teams competing for possession in the centre of the pitch, neither side showing any sign of domination.

Thunder failed to convert their offensive runs into points on the day and Coastal took advantage of their few opportunities and scored the try that gave them the game and vital points in the league table, leapfrogging Thunder and knocking them down to fifth place on the table.

The final score of the match was 19-7 to Coastal.

Players of the day: three points Campbell Moore, two points Zarhn Collins and one point Greg Rowlands.

Other scores: Thunder Premiers 78 Coastal 21, Thunder Colts 24 Coastal 5 and Thunder division two 7 Okaiawa 31.