Randalstown draw
Puddles of water and a gaggle of men with pitchforks greeted Grosvenor when they arrived at Randalstown. It was obvious that this was to be another mud-fest and grim conditions to contend with and so it proved. The pitch remained firm underfoot for the opening ten minutes and Grosvenor started brightly, shunting their opponents back in the early scrums and attacking with real intent. After ten minutes Neil Adams made a neat break off the back of a scrum on half-way and fed Chris Cahoon who had cut in on a lovely angled run, only to be tackled inside the ‘town 22. That was the last real piece of attacking flair by the Grosvenor backs as the game descended into a forward battle of attrition on a deteriorating pitch. Most of the play was between the 22s and the two packs more or less nullified each other with ‘town really fired up for the battle knowing that relegation was still a possible outcome for them. They played like men possessed and time and time again put their bodies on the line to deny Grosvenor. Visiting Captain Phil Hill led his troops admirably and with front row partners Adams and Cartmill they grafted all afternoon. Cartmill had a good day with his darts and his line-out throwing was exemplary considering the ball at times resembled a large half-chewed caramel. Jon Montgomery and Chris Culbert in the second row battled away and both had storming runs to lift the spirits. But it was in the back row where the most intriguing confrontations took place and Kelly, Stoops and Bowman grafted all afternoon but they were met by an equal and opposite force from the ‘town back row who were quite brilliant at disrupting our go-forward and pinching possession.
The only score of the first half was a penalty to Randalstown to give them a 3-0 lead and I counted 12 knock-ons by Grosvenor as they struggled to cope with the sloppy ball
Things continued in much the same vein in the second half. As the pitch deteriorated into a quagmire Grosvenor scrum-half Neil Adams was concerned that he may disappear into what he was convinced was sink hole appearing on half-way. There was a remarkable fifteen minute onslaught of the ‘town line as Grosvenor threw everything into a series of lines-out on the five metre line but they could not get the required traction going forward and were repelled by some do or die defending. The pressure eventually yielded a penalty which Rowntree converted to level the scores with ten minutes to go. A Randalstown player was yellow carded for persistent off-side at the rucks and as the game entered the final minute Grosvenor surged forward on half-way and young Ben Coard scorched up the line, With one defender to beat he chipped the ball at the 22 and was then completely smashed into touch. This cynical late tackle saved a certain try, as the chipped ball had stopped tantalisingly just over the try-line. The referee ruled the offence was too far out to award a penalty try even though there were no other defenders in sight. A tough call, but probably the correct one. Another yellow card followed but Grosvenor had no time to take advantage and the contest ended in a draw.
Man of the match – the entire Grosvenor pack take a bow, you scrapped and scraped, battled and bludgeoned and never dropped the work rate all day.
Jug Watch – superb hospitality as always from this great wee club 10/10.
Physio Watch – Cat was sporting Aegean Turquoise nail varnish this week
