Saturday 28th November - Grove 15 - 10 Slough

Grove 1st's defeated Slough at Grove with a relatively lacklustre performance, particularly
in the second half when they were unable to score against their visitors, conceding the half
7-0.Slough started strongly and took an early lead with a penalty kicked by full back Kevin
Dunne. Grove tried running the ball through their pacy backs and were unlucky when flanker
James Kerr was forced into touch near the Slough try line. Grove's first points came after
10 minutes from a Roger Sevier penalty awarded for Slough's offside move which levelled
things up at 3 : 3. Slough pressed back into the Grove corner but Grove's defence held firm.
Against the odds Grove's pack had a mighty drive against the much heavier Slough pack and drove
them fully twenty metres before Nick Sevier fired out a quick pass to flanker Guy Nicholl
who outpaced the cover for a great try under the posts, converted by Roger Sevier to put
Grove in front by 10 : 3. Slough came back strongly but Grove escaped when the Slough kicker
missed a simple penalty in front of the posts. Slough continued to pressure but Nick Sevier
took a deep Slough kick from his own try line and side-stepped his way to the middle of the
park before taking contact. With Slough not committing men to the breakdown, Grove's very astute
hooker Jon North went straight through the middle of the ruck, picked up the ball and ran
fully 50 metres to score in the corner. This took Grove to half time and a leading score of 15-3
but not before the Slough hooker James Flischer was sin binned and Jamie Fredericks and Ben Nicholl
had a couple of marauding runs at their visitors.
In the early part of the second half Grove tried some adventurous moves but largely these ended
with the ball being dropped and possession being lost. With Slough gaining in confidence they
declined an extremely kickable penalty to go for the line out in the corner but this backfired
when Grove were able to drive the Slough forwards off the ball after a period of intense pressure
by Slough. The move finally stopped when the Slough winger was penalised for holding the ball on
the ground. With a huge clearance kick from the fly half Grove were clear of danger and Richard
Keen substituted for fellow prop Terry Eltham. Grove captain Steve Maryon and the Slough scrum
half Ross Evans were then sin binned together. At this point the game began to deteriorate with
very little decisive action from either side but Grove continually managed to lose possession.

Grove's defences were good however with hard tackles being put in by scrum half Dave Maryon and
Richard Keen. Another monster penalty kick took Grove deep into the Slough half but even though
the resultant line out was won by Grove a careless knock on by the scrum half gave the visitors
the advantage again. With the game now very scrappy one of Sloughs locks was sin-binned for
illegally pushing one of the Grove players. Grove continued to waste opportunities and Slough
began to exert the more pressure but then Grove had one good attack involving a break out by
Guy Nicholl, Jamie Burns and Dave Maryon which ended with the ball being kicked over the Slough
try line for a 22 drop out. With the light fading badly Simon Peel replaced Ashley Lane on the
Grove wing. Grove's discipline also started to desert them and they were marched up the field
through a series of penalties the pressure only being relieved by a huge clearance kick from
full back Nick Hayes. Richard Keen was then sin-binned before Slough pulled back a consolation
try from big prop Matt Fenwick from a 5 metre penalty, converted by Dunne to produce the final
score of 15-10.
Altogether, Grove were by far the superior team but need to start proving this by putting sides
to the sword more consistently. There were several good individual performances but only flashes
of what they are capable of as a team.

Grove team G Eltham, North, T Eltham (Keen), S Maryon, Fredericks, Kerr, G Nicholl, B Nicholl,
D Maryon, R Sevier, Lane (Peel), Law, Burns, N Sevier, Hayes Reps Keen, Brooks, Peel
Scorers: Tries - G Nicholl, J North Conversion - R Sevier Penalty - R Sevier.