TOP-OF-THE-TABLE T-Birds were pushed all the way by Cheltenham in the women’s Championship South but eventually won out 30-10.

Thurrock’s defence had to be on the top of their game with Natalia Ortega Corales in particular having to make some fine last-ditch tackles.

For the first time in many years T’s were forced to kick penalties and build a score before eventually coming out on top.

They went behind to an early try but Mercedes Foy smashed through the defence to level the scores.

Unfortunately that was to be Foy’s last involvement in the game as she injured her shoulder.

In the last act of the first half, Cheltenham’s number eight picked the ball up from the scrum and crashed over to give the hosts a half-time lead.

Ortega Corales went over the try line within a minute of the re-start to put T’s 10-12 in front.

That should have been the end of the matter, but a yellow card at the breakdown put T’s down to 14 and once again on the back foot.

But their South African international Zaza Nojoko kicked two vital penalties in the yellow card period to stretch away over the vital seven point margin ensuring that Cheltenham had to play catch up rugby.

With T’s back up to 15 players and Cheltenham trying to force the game, a yellow card to the home team effectively ended the game. With a player advantage T’s cut loose and two tries in four minutes to seal a 30-10 win.

Team: Corales (T), Francis, Harris, Hepper, Harvey, Nojoko (2C, 2P), Radford, Nichols, Foy (T), Micallef, Mountjoy, Jordan. F, Baker, Vazi (T), Phelps. Rep: Wheeler, French(T), Dyche.