2s set Belmont alight
Portadown 2s were the opposition at Belmont on a beautiful day for running rugby. The visitors were physically much bigger than Grosvenor who had in their ranks a handful of players who were playing schools rugby last year. Chris Cahoon scored a great try which was converted by Teesy while the visitors scored an unconverted try to leave the half-time score 7-5. All fairly run of the mill stuff and there was little indication of the fireworks which were to follow in the second half.
Grosvenor really got ripped in from the restart with the forwards surging forward at every opportunity and keeping the pressure on with some neat offloads. Captain Jack Adams was to the fore aided and abetted by front row partners Junior Waf and Nic Jones. Deebo and Jon Montgomery were charging about like baby rhinos making yards with each run and the back row of Steeler, Matty and young Whitten were always on hand to offer support and keep the ball alive. The backs were given a stream of great possession, Teesy at out-half orchestrated things beautifully and Portadown just couldn’t keep up. They tried to kill the ball illegally at the breakdown and two players saw Yellow depleting their number to 13. Grosvenor took immediate advantage and scored two tries in quick succession from Matty Dick and Junior Waf. The score was now 19-5 and Portadown heads began to drop. Grosvenor kept the momentum going with some of the finest attacking play seen at Belmont in recent times. Backs and forwards linked together seemlessly and scored a further four tries including a second by Junior Waf, one from Deebo and two cracking efforts from Harper following some neat handling in the backs by Simon, Dee, Isaac and Goon. A fantastic second half performance and another great win to maintain Grosvenor’s 100% record and top place in Junior 2. Final score 43-5.
Man of the match was extremely difficult with so many players in the frame this week but Junior Waf just pips Deebo.
Physio Watch – no nail varnish this week as the delightful Cat opted for an ‘au naturale’ look
Tourettes watch – a visiting alicadoo brought pitch side abuse to a new level yesterday and is well placed if swearing becomes an Olympic sport.
Bucks Savour Last Minute Victory
Disrupted by call ups and cry offs the 4s faced Donaghadee with some little trepidation. Donaghadee can be difficult opponents at the best of times. As usual all the talk in the warm up was of starting well and defending strongly but the Bucks were almost immediately put on the back foot by the Dee winger who accelerated from 0-60 in record time and scorched over from distance despite a valiant effort from Andy Rooney.
However, this was merely a minor setback as Grosvenor came roaring back and exerted great pressure on the Dee line with thrusts from Gibbo, Ski and Mikey. But for a missed ‘last pass’ or two Grosvenor would have scored several tries. The rewards did finally come as Ski scored near the posts with JT adding the extras.
At this stage Grosvenor were dominating proceedings with both set piece elements functioning very well and all concerned competing at ruck time. JT was to add 2 penalties to bring the half time score to 13-5 and Grosvenor could count themselves unlucky to not be further ahead.
The half time chat was dominated by talk of continuing to play in the same vein but the game quickly became the archetypal ‘game of 2 halves’ as Dee appeared in the 2nd half like a side which had received the full hair dryer treatment. Again Dee expolited the pace of their impish winger to score in the corner and another try was scored from close range to totally change the complexion of the game. Dee now led 16-13 and Grosvenor’s heads seemed to have completely gone.
At this stage it seemed inevitable that Dee would go on to close out the game but inspired by some bullocking runs from Glenski the Bucks got JT in penalty range, the kick was duly slotted and with 6 minutes left in the game Grosvenor trailled by a single point. We knew at this stage that if we could get JT within range he was likely to slot the kick in the same fashion he had all day. With barely a minute left on the clock he put a high ball up which looked to be easily dealt with by the Dee full back. He simply had to mark the ball, kick it out and the game was probably over. But he suffered a momentary lapse and caught the ball before passing to his wing colleague to clear. His kick was charged down and caught by Hendy, probably only the second ball he has caught so far this season, who had the simple task of scampering under the posts to all but end the game. JT again added the extras and Grosvenor escaped with a most unlikely 23-17 win. Dee players were devastated at the final whistle with many falling to the ground in despair.
Our intrepid BBC journalist and occasional player Eunan McConville was required to add his bulk to the pack in the last 10 minutes after Mikey Morris suffered from cramp. Eunan was heard to claim that his efforts in the dying seconds were what made the difference.
Man of the match this week is a tight call. JT was more or less unerring with the boot. Jar had a fine game at scrum and lineout time. But really on a day when he was playing against his home town club with a giant abcess in his cheek, the deserving man of the match is Glen McCready for his try and all round contribution.
IRFU Club Excellence Award 2012.
