Saturday 23rd January - Windsor 14 - 34 Grove

Grove got their season going again after a 6 week break with a pleasing 34-14 away win at
4th place Windsor. Missing captain Steve Maryon with his first child expected, Ben Nicholl
took over the captaincy for the day. Grove got on the scoreboard early in the 1st half in a
slightly fortuitous manner when a 55 metre penalty attempt by Roger Sevier bounced back from
the crossbar into open play. Speedy winger Tom Harrington made a crunching tackle on the
gathering Windsor player and with the ball quickly being turned over by Grove, flanker Jamie
Fredericks ran through to score from 25 yards. Sevier then proceeded to hit one of the uprights
with the attempted conversion. Grove looked the better side, and with the ball being controlled
well in the loose and the set piece working effectively, it was only handling mistakes and a
few silly offsides at the breakdown which were keeping Windsor in the game. Windsor capitalised
on one particular transgression with a penalty kick for touch for a 5 metre lineout and then
walked it over the line with a well worked driving maul, flanker Jonny Hayhurst scoring the try.
Van Terheyden missed the conversion to keep the scores level, and then missed 3 relatively simple
penalty attempts in a row as Grove's discipline let them down in dangerous areas of the pitch.
Grove managed to regain their composure and scored after 30 minutes with full back Nick Sevier
running through unopposed from a brilliantly worked backs move on the Windsor 22. Brother Roger
slotted the simple conversion for a 12-5 lead. A further penalty conversion a short time later made
the score 15-5 and Grove were starting to exert a lot of pressure. Windsor managed another penalty
shot before half time, with winger James Driscoll taking over and converting for a half time score
of 15-8 to Grove.

Windsor started the 2nd half with a lot of purpose and with mistakes and
transgressions once again creeping into an otherwise excellent Grove game,Driscoll once again stepped
up to convert 2 more penalties to make the score 15-14 and give the home supporters something to
shout about. Significantly, at this point the Windsor no 8 was sin-binned for some foul play and
Grove took the opportunity to turn the screw, with some great handling through forwards and backs
resulting in centre Jamie Burns finding space wide on the right,wrong footing the full back and
outpacing the cover to score near the posts, Sevier missing the conversion for a 20-14 scoreline.
Things got a little out of hand shortly after,with prop Gary Eltham incorrectly sent off after a
scuffle which the referee did not see, but bizarrely asking the home touch judge his opinion and
predictably pinpointing a Grove player for some punishment. This should have handed the advantage to
Windsor but instead galvanised the aggrieved Grove team, who promptly recovered the ball from a mistake
at the scrum by the Windsor no 9. Outstanding no 8 Ben Nicholl picked up the loose ball and fed Roger
Sevier for his first try of the season, also converted by him for a 27-14 lead. With the game almost
up and Windsor playing for pride, another superb break through some tired tackling in midfield by
Jamie Burns gave Grove the chance to score,and with energetic flanker Guy Nicholl on hand for the pass
from the last move of the game, Sevier converted his try for the final score of 34-14 and a significant
away win for Grove.

Grove Team:D Bashford, J North, G Eltham, J Kerr, L Wright, J Fredericks, G Nicholl, B Nicholl, D Maryon,
R Sevier, T Harrington, A Lane, J Burns, Z Grant, N Sevier. Reps: S Sherwood, N Brooks, B Law
Scorers,Grove:Tries - Fredericks, N Sevier, Burns, R Sevier, G Nicholl. Conversions - R Sevier (3)Penalty - R Sevier.

Windsor: Try - Hayhurst.Penaties - Driscoll (3).