Grove travelled to Widden Old Boys from Western Counties (North) on Saturday to play their round 2 match in the EDF Energy Senior Vase competition. Widden OB are unbeaten in the league and are currently heading their division so Grove had no illusions about this promising to be a tough game. The game indeed turned out to be a hard fought and fairly even affair but was deservedly won by Grove 21 : 23 although the fixture ended in controversy due to an amazing decision by the referee.

  

Grove opened the scoring after just four minutes when flanker Ben Nicholl scored a great try between the posts following a superb build up by both forwards and backs alike. Nick Sevier kicked the conversion to give Grove a 0 : 7 lead. After 12 minutes Widden slotted a penalty to bring the score to 3 : 7 but then came the first of the afternoon's gaffs from the referee when he awarded a try to Widden OB following a kick ahead when the player who actually grounded the ball for what should have been a 22 drop out was Sevier for Grove. The score had however become Widden OB 8, Grove 7 but then Grove deservedly moved into a 8 : 13 half time lead following two successful penalty kicks from Sevier. By now the Grove forwards were entirely dominant in the game and were having much success pushing the Widden forwards off their own ball and generally moving their opposite numbers wherever they wanted them to go. The Widden OB backs however did look dangerous when they got possession, passing the ball skilfully and without handling errors.

  

The second half started with Widden OB scoring an unconverted but somewhat controversial try due to an unspotted forward pass in the build up. This levelled the score at 13 : 13. The home side then went further ahead, against the run of play, with another unconverted try scored in the corner. Following a terrific break by flanker Jason Whyte however Grove were awarded a penalty which Sevier again slotted to bring Grove to within 2 points of their hosts at 16 : 18. With the game nearing its end Widden OB scored from another penalty leaving Grove needing 5 points to draw and 7 points to win a match that they really by now should have had in the bag. So at this point Grove really increased the pressure and great play took the visitors into the opposition's 22 metre area from where their forwards drove the ball over the line only to have what appeared to be a perfectly good try disallowed by the unsighted referee. Undaunted, from the next scrum Grove pushed again and it was late substitute flanker Ady Amies who grabbed the ball and undisputedly touched down to level the scores at 21 : 21. With the conversion attempt being the last kick of the game Sevier was under great pressure but he duly obliged by successfully kicking the conversion. As only one touch judge raised his flag however the referee seemed uncertain whether to award the 2 points but after a few moments he did so and verbally confirmed Grove as the winners at 21 : 23 and the game was over. The final result was displayed on Widden's pitchside scoreboard but it was at this point that the real controversy began when the Widden OB coach rounded on the referee and somewhat disgracefully demanded that the final conversion be disallowed as it had been kicked higher than the uprights and in his opinion had not passed between them. Unfortunately for Grove the referee eventually yielded to this pressure and even though the game had been over for some time he then reversed his decision on the conversion and declared the game to be a 21 : 21 draw!

  

  

Grove now await a decision from above to know whether they will be allowed to progress to the next round of the competition as they rightly should.