Grosvenor entertained close neighbours Holywood at Civil Service in near perfect conditions and on one of the finest playing surfaces in Ulster rugby. The ‘home’ side started brightly and scored a try after ten minutes when flanker Dee McLaughlin picked up from the base of a scrum on Holywood’s 22 and barged his way to the line Stephen Ferris-like for a super individual score. Conversion added 7-0. Grosvenor continued to put pressure on Holywood and ten minutes later scored another excellent try when after a series of forward charges in the right hand corner the ball was shipped out the backs and Wayne Elliot dived over for a great try, 12-0. Holywood awakened from their slumber and began to throw the ball about in the backs while their forwards built up momentum with a series of charges. Their big second row broke free down the right flank following some weak tackling by Grosvenor and there was only one man to beat with five metres to go. Despite having a five stone weight disadvantage Seb the Grosvenor scrumhalf nailed this North Down behemoth and prevented a certain try. Well done that man. However Holywood kept up the pressure and again some weak tackling by Grosvenor allowed them in for the try. 12-5. Half time. 
Holywood came out of the blocks fastest in the second half and Grosvenor conceded two soft tries to allow Holywood to take a 19-12 lead. They rallied in the last quarter with Dee McLaughlin, Ed Law and Craig Steele leading the way up front and Johnny Greer and Matty Webb looking dangerous in the backs. Grosvenor began to build up the phases and when they kept the ball in their hands they had Holywood in all sorts of difficulties. They conjured up a magnificent try with ten minutes to go when following some neat interpassing between backs and forwards Marc Brown found space down the left flank but with three Holywood defenders to beat. He rounded one with his pace, sold an outrageous dummy to beat the second and side stepped the third before going round under the posts. Conversion added. 19-19. Hoywood didn’t panic and gathered the ball from the restart, forcing a penalty thirty five metres out. Up stepped the Holywood out-half to slot over a superb kick. 22-19 with only a few minutes to go. Grosvenor threw everything at Holywood and were awarded a penalty ten metres out on the right. Seb tapped quickly and went but was scragged by the Holywood defence. Another penalty but this time almost in front of the posts. The kick would have brought the scores level but captain Marc Brown rather sportingly opted to gamble eveything on one last surge for the line. But the ball was spilled and the chance was gone. Final score 22-19.
Grosvenor played extremely well and probably did enough to win this match but they have a habit of switching off at vital moments and allowing the opposition to break tackles too easily. Their penalty count was also extremely high in the second half. Granted some of the decisions were dubious but many were silly penalties for repeating the same offences at rucks, mainly holding after the tackle, not rolling away and coming in from the side.
Man of the match. Dee McLaughlin was pick of the forwards and put his body on the line many times but young Seb at scrum-half gets the nod this week for his skill, vision and fearlessness. For older members Seb brought back memories of Grosvenor great Mark Clarke aka Buxter in his prime twenty five years ago.
