Pythons Victorious at Eaton Park
The 3s travelled to Ballymena on Saturday with some trepidation as no trip to the Braidmen is ever easy. With serious injury problems and absentees up the club many of the 4th XV were asked to step up to the mark and stake a claim for a regular berth on the 3s. All the pre match talk was about trying to put together an 80 minute performance rather than playing in the fits and starts which has been the downfall of both 3s and 4s this season.
Karl Todd was playing his first game in a Grosvenor shirt, while Andy Moore and Eunan McConville were both playing their first full game of the season. Grosvenor started the game like a team who intended to stamp their authority on proceedings, but Ballymena would open the scoring with a try against the run of play. On another day Grosvenor heads would have dropped as Ballymena started to apply the pressure. However, now it was Grosvenor’s turn to score against the run of play with Andy Moore scoring from distance. Not long afterwards Andy scored again and Smut added a penalty. Ballymena kept in touch with a second try to leave the half time score 15-10 to Grosvenor.
Grosvenor needed to keep the tempo high and use the elements and play a territorial game, but as always this is easier said than done. As within 2 minutes of the restart Ballymena’s centre scored from his own half without really having to reach full speed and the Braidmen were starting to talk about destroying the Pythons. But this Grosvenor side were made of stronger stuff and soon Jonny Greer was knocking kicks into the corner and the tourniquet was being applied to Ballymena. Andy Moore added a third try to complete his hat trick and Eunan McConville completed the scoring with a well worked, strong running try. A penalty was added to take the score to 30-17 and the game looked over. Ballymena had other ideas and added a fourth try of their own to bring the final score to 30-22.
This was a hard fought, well deserved victory with both forwards and backs contributing in spades. The obvious choice for man of the match would be Andy Moore but on the balance of play he gets a big shout out, as does Karl Todd on debut but man of the match goes to Jonny Greer who controlled everything that Grosvenor did on the day and executed some fine kicking from hand.
On jug watch the team were left disappointed as after the game more Grosvenor players were in the bar than either of the 2 Ballymena home teams and no beer was forthcoming. Unfortunately, in this correspondents opinion, some senior clubs seem to have foregone this tradition which is much to the detriment of club rugby.
Skins win by one point
This was another day of near perfect conditions for rugby and with both sides unbeaten thus far this season something had to give.
Enniskillen began a man short due to a travel mix up and Grosvenor took advantage stretching the vistors right and then left with some deft handling in the backs. Only some desperate defence kept Ben Coard out in the left hand corner but Grosvenor took the lead shortly after with a mervellous try. Simon Beattie and Matt Cahoon instigated a counter attack just outside the Grosvenor 22, the movement was taken on by Andrew Kelly who made a lovely break and timed his pass perfectly to Sunno who sprinted in for a try in the corner, Conversion missed 5-0. Matthew LIttle then kicked a penalty from the half-way line to stretch the lead to eight points. Enniskillen were clinging on grimly as Grosvenor laid seige to their line and eventually Matty Cahoon scored a superb solo try, breaking through several tackles and then sprinting the last 20 metres with defenders snapping at his heels. Conversion added 15-0. Grosvenor gathered the restart and launched another great attack which ended up with a line-out on the Enniskillen 22. The visitors’ last man arrived at this moment and the impact was instant as Enniskillen cleared the danger and began to take the game to Grosvenor. They attacked up the right flank and some neat handling put their flying winger away for a try in the corner. 15-5. As they applied more pressure Grosvenor conceded a penalty on the 22 which the visitors converted to reduce the deficit to 7 points. As the final minutes of the half approached Andrew Kelly was rather harshly penalised for not releasing on half-way. The Enniskillen scrum-half took a quick tap and some neat handling put their winger away and only a superb last ditch cover tackle prevented the score. HT15-8.
Young Stuart Smyth, making his 1st XV debut at hooker, had to retire at half-time with a nasty shoulder injury. Enniskillen continued their positive transformation and launched a series of attacks leading to a rolling maul off a lineout on the 22. Andrew Kelly was yellow carded for collapsing and Enniskillen converted the penalty. 15-11. Now reduced to 13 men it almost got worse for Grosvenor when Matt Cahoon and James Bowman clashed heads as they went for the restart ball, both returning to action after a lengthy delay. Despite their depleted numbers Grosvenor defended heroically but eventually their line was breached to give the visitors a 16-15 lead. Kelly returned to the ranks and Grosvenor fought back into the game. Matty Little struck another superb penalty from half-way to restore their lead as the game entered the last five minutes. Grosvenor failed to secure the restart gave Enniskillen a foothold in Grosvenor territory. Grosvenor were subsequently awarded a scrum in the middle of the park on the 22 but instead of kicking deep into Enniskillen territory they attempted a handling move which was fumbled. Suddenly Enniskillen had a great attacking scrum and were awarded a penalty at an ensuing ruck which they gratefully accepted. 19-18. Grosvenor were not finished and left winger Mark Atkinson made a great break deep into Enniskillen territory. The ball was whipped right and a try looked certain but the final pass was dropped and the chance was gone. Final score 19-18.
A terrific match and congratulations to Enniskillen who recovered from a poor start to grind out a victory on the road. Grosvenor will be disappointed but can be proud of their performance will no doubt learn from the mistakes that allowed a winnable game to slip away from them.
Grosvenor man of the match goes to Mr Consistency Phil Hill who was at the heart of a great forward performance and led his troops admirably.
Waf hat trick sinks Braidmen
Grosvenor travelled to a busy Eaton Park aiming to keep up their 100% record this season. Due to the large number of teams and a lack of changing rooms Grosvenor found themselves in the spacious Womens’ Changing Room before the match.
Ballymena started the game brightly and as a result of a few missed tackles their number 8 made a break but was hauled down short of the line. Grosvenor recovered well and ensured that they kept their opponents to no points, and then shortly after scored the first try of the game as Chris Cahoon scored under the posts. 7-0 to Grosvenor.
However this seemed to spur on the Ballymena team who hit back with two tries to leave the score reading 12-7. But in line with the ‘topsy turvy’ nature of the half Grosvenor struck back with two further tries of their own through Alan Harper and Waf’s first of the day! So Grosvenor found themselves 19-12 up. Though shortly before half time Ballymena scored in the corner to leave the half time score reading 19-19.
After a fairly even first half, the second half belonged to Grosvenor who scored a further three tries through Steeler and two for Waf, who completed his hat trick! During this period of the game Grosvenor played some brilliant rugby both in attack and defence. Some fantastic cover tackling when it seemed that Ballymena were sure to score, was mixed up with Andy Wilson’s bullet passes direct from restarts to launch further Grosvenor attacks. Though the highlight was definitely DBo deciding to chip the winger when he found himself in a bit of space and one on one! Needless to say this did not result in a Grosvenor 5 pointer. Ballymena did score one further try to leave the final score 36-26.
There was a moment of confusion at the final whistle as Grosvenor appeared to have added to their try count but no one, especially the referee, had any idea what was happening so the ref blew there and then for full time.
In short a good away victory for Grosvenor 2s who are now 6 from 6 in the league.
MOTM: A good all round team performance but it’s hard to overlook a hooker who scored a hat trick, well played Waf
Jug Watch – Ballymena upheld their reputation of failing to extend any form of hospitality to their guests
