Remarkable victory in Armagh
Armagh 2s v Grosvenor – Conference League
Another wet day but Armagh provided an excellent pitch which gave hope that a good game of rugby would take place. Grosvenor welcomed Mark Atkinson back after a lengthy injury absence and to Paul (PK) Kennedy for his first match this year on the first 15. PK became the 32nd player to feature this season.
Grosvenor started the match pushing Armagh back and on 9 minutes the pressure told when a penalty from Peter Davidson gave them a three point lead. After 15 minutes Jeff Mealiff started a bit of a trend when he left the field with a rib injury. Reduced to 14, Grosvenor gave as good as they got and the sides exchanged penalties over the next 15 over the next 15 minutes. On the half hour Grosvenor was awarded a penalty which might have been kicked but captain Mark Cartmill chose to kick to the corner. Following the line-out, Grosvenor drove a maul over the line with Cartmill claiming the try to take the score to 3-11. Armagh responded with a try in the left corner following a back move which included a very forward pass. Half time score 8-11.
The Grosvenor 14 men maintained the pressure on Armagh and after 5 minutes of the second half Neil Adams harassed the Armagh scrum half at the base of a scrum, the ball fell loose and was swooped on by Matthew Cahoon who quickly fed Davidson who scored unopposed under the posts. Davidson converted his try to make the score 8-18. It was then the drama for the afternoon started. Prop Pearce Jamison who had been struggling with a sore neck, could not continue so Grosvenor went to 13 men and uncontested scrums. Unsurprisingly Armagh went on the attack and within 5 minutes scored when the No. 8 picked up from the base of a scrum and with no wing forwards drove over the line for an unconverted try. 4 minutes later the referee sent Matthew Allen to the sin bin for side entry at a ruck on the half way line. Now reduced to 12 players it seemed inevitable Armagh would overwhelm Grosvenor and things seemed to get even worse when Paul Kennedy came off for a short time to leave the contents of his stomach on the sideline but amazingly Grosvenor took the game to Armagh. The defence was outstanding with superb tackling matched by clever play with the forwards not over committing at rucks enabling the maximum degree of cover to be maintained. In possession excellent kicking from Neil Adams and Peter Davidson drove Armagh back into its own half. Armagh didn’t seem to know how to take advantage of its superior numbers, consistently knocking on when under pressure and running into the centre of the Grosvenor defence. Sticking to the game plan allowed Grosvenor to take the game to Armagh by getting into the Armagh half and forcing errors. As a result Grosvenor was awarded two penalties, both from about 40 metres which Peter Davidson slotted over to take the final score 16-24.
This was a remarkable performance from the Grosvenor players. Despite losing two players (and two more for short periods) no one in the side ever gave up. The entire team kept going and didn’t give Armagh a moment’s peace. They defended brilliantly and when their chances came they took them. Overall one of the best performances seen in a long time; it is remarkable what sticking to a plan can achieve.
An aside. Despite the disappointment of seeing their side lose to 13 men the Armagh alikadoos were generous in their praise, which is immensely to their credit.
MB
