Southern Counties Intermediate Cup first round – Saturday 24th October 2009

Grove progress to the quarter-finals of the new Southern Counties Intermediate Cup with a
27-18 win over Beaconsfield at Cane Lane.

Beaconsfield kicked off with a strong wind at their backs, and a lethargic Grove side were
immediately behind when Beaconsfield scored a try within 2 minutes with their young captain
and lock Callum Wilkinson running in untouched from 25 yards out. The wind enabled the
Beaconsfield fly half, Nick Tappin to punish any Grove indiscretion and his kicks continued
to pressure Grove. Beaconsfield were camped in the Grove half, and after ten minutes were
awarded a penalty in front of the Grove posts from which kicker Ross Ritchie had no trouble
scoring three points and added another 3 to the tally a short while later when Grove were
penalised for offside. To make matters worse a 20 man brawl between the sides led to Grove's
hooker, Gary Eltham being yellow carded (a case of mistaken identity apparently!). With the
referee strangely not allowing Grove's front row replacement to take the field passive
scrummaging ensued for ten minutes. Despite this setback, every time Grove had the ball,
they attacked Beaconsfield vigorously with strong runs from centre Nick Sevier, No.8
Ben Nicholl, lock Weaving, props Keen and Eltham and flankers Nicholl and Kerr. Each time
however the attacks broke down and Beaconsfield used sensible kicks, assisted by the strong
wind, to push Grove back into their own half. It was from one beautiful long Tappin kick to
the corner that Beaconsfield were able to score again when their right winger Josh Rankin
collected the ball from the kick and dived over for five points. With forty minutes having
been played the referee then amazingly allowed play to continue for a further 18 minutes
before finally bringing the half to its end. During this period one of the Beaconsfield
flankers and Keen from Grove were sin-binned and Grove turned around 18 points down

Grove started the second half far more positively and with the wind now in their favour,
were able to set up camp in the Beaconsfield 22. Following a set move close to the Beaconsfield
line Nick Sevier powered ,over for a touch down to bring Grove back into the game, brother
Roger converting for 7-18. Grove wing Tom Harrington made a great break for the line but the
Beaconsfield defence held firm. Grove's other wing Simon Cramp was replaced by John Gerring
and then Grove were awarded a penalty which Roger Sevier blasted over to bring the score to
10-18. At this point, Richie Revell, one of the Beaconsfield props, had to leave the field
with a leg injury and passive scrummaging was ordered for the remainder of the game. Grove
sensibly decided therefore to bring on back row player Jamie Fredericks as replacement for
front row man Terry Eltham. Harrington then had another strong run before Grove found themselves
defending again. A terrific cross field kick to touch by Roger Sevier alleviated the pressure
and then Guy Nicholl had a super run to put Harrington in for a great Grove try which Sevier
converted to leave the home side trailing by just one point. Grove were now playing at full
steam and terrific running from Ben Nicholl and Jamie Fredericks lead to another Grove penalty
out wide which Sevier again converted to put Grove into the lead for the first time at 20-18.
Grove continued to pressure with huge kicks from both Roger Sevier and scrum half Dave Maryon
and Gerring was unlucky not to score when he spilled the ball from a difficult pass.
Unfortunately and very harshly the referee then yellow carded Gerring for cursing his own
mistake! Despite this player shortfall Ben Nicholl completed a great run to score in the
opposite corner following good pressure from Fredericks. Despite the wide angle, long distance
and difficult wind conditions, Roger Sevier completed another 100% kicking performance by
putting the conversion over to provide the final winning scoreline of 27-18 in a match which
was slightly overshadowed by some strange refereeing decisions.Scorers:
Grove: Tries: N Sevier, Harrington, B Nicholls. Conversions: R Sevier (3) Penalties: R Sevier (2)

Beaconsfield: Tries: Wilkinson, Rankin. Conversion: Ritchie. Penalty: Ritchie (2).Grove team: T Eltham (Fredericks), G Eltham, Keen, S Maryon, Weaving, Kerr, G Nicholl,
B Nicholl, D Maryon, R Sevier, Cramp (Gerring), N Sevier, Grant, Harrington, Lane
Reps: Head, Brooks, Gerring, Fredericks