Magnificent 7 (wins in a row)
The match started off in bright sunshine with a brisk swirling breeze. Grosvenor took initial possession and after a period of forward exchanges Matty Little aligned himself beautifully for a sweet drop goal. This prick seemed to spur the opposition into reaction and induce somnolence in Grosvenor.
Queen’s spurned no opportunity to run at Grosvenor who obliged them by falling off first-up tackles or simply being taken by surprise by the speed of the Queen’s team as a whole. Grosvenor played to Queen’s strengths by conceding too many penalties or kicking ball to them. Nevertheless Grosvenor seemed to dominate territorially with some incisive running of their own but in the two incursions into the Grosvenor half the Students came away with two goals following some enterprising running. The Queen’s number 10 had a beautiful boot and used it to make magnificent gains and eclipse several promising Grosvenor moves until Simon Fullerton, after good ball retention by the pack made one of his magnificent bullocking runs and crossed for Grosvenor leaving Matty Little to convert. The reprieve of the 14 – 10 score was not enjoyed for long as Queen’s responded showing some inspirational running to score at the other end. This conceding of tries to the fast running opposition was making things look ominous for Grosvenor. There was some free running from both sides with halftime being reached with the score at 21 – 10 for Queen’s.
Initial scrums were evenly contested but as the game wore on Grosvenor began to dominate and the Queen’s mercurial scrum half was inhibited by poorly presented ball in his previous smooth distribution and breaks as Brendan Parke began to get the measure of him also. Brendan was heroic in defence and an irritant in attack. When Queen’s lost their No 6, Grosvenor became utterly dominant in the scrums. The Students, reduced to 14 men and suffering in the scrums and meeting with more determined Grosvenor contention at the breakdown in which Philip Stoops was prominent, began to falter.
The Queen’s full back who had been fairly anonymous in the first half began to show to very good effect for them in the second with some very good incursions into the line, but Grosvenor had become much more resolute in defence. There was one three- to four- minute period of intense Grosvenor defence in which a succession of crunching tackles were delivered which I felt turned the game. Simon Fullerton was making some telling tackles in cover defence and the game began to take on another complexion. Subsequently a break up the right wing and Matty Little, who despite having been periodically in the wars, was on hand to take the pass which allowed him to cross the line sufficiently unchallenged to run round behind the posts, making his subsequent conversion that much easier.
With the match far from over the Grosvenor pack began to guard possession jealously and spurned a number of opportunities at goal kicks as the penalty count began to swing the other way. A series of scrums close to the Queens line led to mauls and rucks which pushed Grosvenor inexorably forward eventually resulting in a touch down by Stoopsy. The conversion left Grosvenor with a narrow but defendable lead at 24 – 21 and as the final whistle approached the Grosvenor pack retained possession in Munster-like fashion until the clock ran down leaving Grosvenor victors in a match which was full of movement with some great running rugby played in an excellent spirit.
Somewhere in the above narrative I should have found a place to compliment Andrew Robinson’s fine running, terrier-like chasing and tackling and also being narrowly denied a try in the corner.
With an ultimately very spirited performance, very well led and marshalled by Alain Douglas, it would be hard to pass Matty Little as Man of the Match with a tally of 14 points and who has stood in very well from his preferred position at full back. But then there were the stand-out performances by Simon and Stoopsy and the rest of the pack with John Montgomery stepping up manfully to support a very game John Lutton in the second row. Take your pick. Overall a great performance and a win to savour, played in an excellent spirit by both sides.
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Bucks Romp Home Against….Carrick
Given the boggy conditions underfoot expectations from the throng werent high for a game of thrills but many spills were anticipated. The first half was contested mainly in the Carrick half and initially it looked as though points were going to be at a premium but then it turned into the number 10 show. With the Grosvenor outhalf cantering over for 2 converted tries and successfully adding 2 penalties, while the lone repost from Carrick came in the giuise of a successful penalty. The half time score being 20-3. There was one notable highlight and one notable lowlight of the first half. The highlight being the introduction of a first time referee, however it was quickly ascertained that he was a trainee teacher as he wore his whistle around his neck, which cutailed some of the more elaborate hand signals that referees are becoming known for these days. The lowlight of the first half was when Carrick were in attack in the Grosvenor 22 and Alan Wray picked up the ball from the back of a ruck and attempted a clearance kick using his wrong foot. Note to Alan – Never, ever, ever kick the ball in a game ever, ever again.
Carrick clearly had a kick up the rear at half time and came out and scored a try. In days gone by a Grosvenor 4s might have started to panic but on this occasion it just encouraged Grosvenor to further up the pace. This led to tries from Paddy Parke and latterly Jonny Greer. Sandwiched between these was a hat trick try for the outhalf (jug of beer duly purchased) and a try on his return from injury for DBo which was described in rather unflattering terms by all and sundry.
Without rubbing the wound too much for Carrick their afternoon finished with a 2nd row booting the ball into the face of one of his team mates and the full back sending up an Garryowen which landed behind all of his own players, effectively rendering them all offside. However, they did have a raft of young players who will only improve with more experience. Their eyes lighting up when presented with 2 jugs of beer by Mikey Mo after the match.
Final score 44-8
Man of the match on this occasion was fairly easy as there were only 2 players in contention, Stevie Whitten was simply immense in the forwards, tackling, stealing ball and never ceasing. But with 4 conversions, 3 tries, 2 penalties and 1 jug of beer bought the man of the match goes to the Grosvenor number 10. (Just need to teach him to pass now)
