THURROCK’S director of rugby Dean White was frustrated to see his side beaten 27-19 at home to Eton Manor in London One North.

The defeat saw T’s remain sixth in the table but they are now 13 points behind fifth placed Manor.

And White was dismayed to suffer a fifth defeat in six games.

“To say I’m disappointed about the game doesn’t really come close,” said White.

“We just never got going in this fixture and it’s frustrating because we could have come away with the points.

“We really must put teams away when we get the chance because the top teams in this league will hurt you if you don’t.

“We will continue to work hard at sessions and look to improve in certain areas.

“The players that stepped up on Saturday really did put their hand up for selection, we had a six player change from the Brentwood game and still pushed a top five side all the way.

“This is one positive from the weekend and shows the strength in depth compared to last season.”

Dogged by injuries - having lost Grant Scott and Tom Worsfold at Brentwood the previous week - a reshuffled back line took a little while to settle as Manor scored a converted try in the first five minutes.

Scrum half Alex Jones returned after a seven game absence and he poached a try near the posts only for the conversion to be badly missed.

But it was Jones again who went over to give Thurrock the lead with Troy Michie adding the conversion to make it 12-7.

But the lead was squandered late in the half as the visitors scored a converted try to lead 17-12 at the break.

Eton Manor stretched their lead shortly into the second-half with an unconverted try and, while Thurrock had promising moments they failed to turn them into points with Andrew Nimmo and Earl Gorman putting in some strong tackles.

And it was Nimmo who made a 45 metre break giving Charlie Currie the chance to touch down under the posts, with Michie converting.

But the visitors turned defence into attack in an instant to score another try to stretch their lead which they held comfortably until the end.

Thurrock: White, Farrell, Holloway, Gorman, Michie, Kidd, Jones, Brunger, Durrance, Currie, Nimmo, Shaw, Everitt, Radley, C Russo, Hulse, F Russo, Collins