Grove 19 : Beaconsfield 24 - Saturday 20th February

Grove effectively self-destructed on Saturday by giving away
19 points in the first half against lowly Beaconsfield with a mixture of poor play and far
too much indiscipline. Grove lost first choice scrum half Nick Hayes before the match due to
flu, John Neddlekoff making his first team debut this season as his replacement. Grove
started reasonably brightly with a couple of good runs from flanker Guy Nicholl but were badly
hampered within the first five minutes when flanker Lee Wright had to leave the field for
hospital with suspected concussion, after a particularly devastating tackle, James Kerr coming
on as replacement. After 20 minutes one of many penalties already awarded to the visitors was
hen turned into a 3 point lead by their full back. Within 5 minutes Grove transgressed again
in front of their own posts and Beaconsfield were 6 points in front, again through their full
back. A promising attack by Grove fell apart following a poor kick upfield which was returned
with interest by Beaconsfield but Grove came straight back and were awarded a penalty when the
referee should have played advantage, given Grove at the time had a four man overlap and possibly
could have scored the first try of the match. For the second time in the match Grove lost
their own line out following the penalty award. From the next Grove penalty awarded, fly half
Roger Sevier attempted a kick at the posts but this went just wide. Grove smashed back into
Beaconsfield through hooker Shaun Sherwood following the 22 metre drop out and set up a great
open side platform to run the ball but the ball was lost after the wrong option to go blind was
taken. Grove then gave away another penalty plus a further 10 metres in front of their own posts
for backchat after captain and No. 8 Ben Nicholl was harshly yellow carded for what the referee
adjudged to be a dangerous tackle on a Beaconsfield player, who had to leave the field permanently
as a result of damage to his arm or shoulder. The kick was put over and Grove were 9 points behind.
To make matters worse Grove gave away further penalties and taking full advantage the Beaconsfield
left wing neatly slipped the ball to their centre on the loop who scored the first try of the match
in the corner of the field. With the difficult conversion being missed Grove were now 0 : 14 behind.
As a result of a Grove player going down on the try scorer after he had touched down the referee
awarded Beaconsfield a penalty from the kick off. With 55 minutes having been played in the first
half Beaconsfield managed to score another unconverted try to leave Grove 0 : 19 down at the break
with a very large mountain to climb. Grove started the second half much better having made some
positional reshuffles and launched straight into Beaconsfield with a good long run from Guy Nicholl,
leading to Grove retaining possession through several phases of play, before winning a penalty. The
penalty was taken quickly and the ball spun wide to Nick Sevier on the left wing who barrelled his
way through three defenders, broke clear and ran in from the corner to score a good try between
the posts. Roger Sevier converted to take the score to 7 : 19. Grove immediately gave away another
penalty in front of their own posts but amazingly the kick for the points was missed and Grove were
let off. Nathan Brooks came on as a replacement after full back Ashley Lane had to leave the field
with a hamstring injury. Grove's attacks now became more intensive with good bludgeoning runs from
centre Ben Law in particular but passes kept going astray and the attacks broke down. Beaconsfield
counter attacked and following a scrummage scored on the wing while defending wing Sevier was down
receiving treatment for a bloodied nose. With the wing position undefended this was an easy try for
the visitors but it was debatable whether the referee should have allowed play to restart while the
Grove player was incapable of playing. The conversion was missed but Beaconsfield were now 7 : 24 in
front. Again Grove stormed back into Beaconsfield and again scoring opportunities were lost when final
passes went astray. More Grove indiscipline followed when prop Jimmy Wallbridge was yellow carded for
retaliation, following a bout of 'handbags'. Despite being a man short however great backs work,
including a break from Ben Nicholl, now playing in the centre, resulted in wing Simon Cramp going over
in the right corner. The difficult conversion was put over by Roger Sevier and Grove were now back in
it at 14 : 24. but with only 10 minutes remaining. Further rampaging attacks from Grove developed but
again almost certain scoring opportunities were lost with the ball being spilled at the last minute.
Beaconsfield, now visibly tiring, could only resort to kicks to get out of trouble. Another bout of
'handbags' occurred and one of the Beaconsfield locks, who should have received a yellow card for
persistently attacking a Grove player, staggeringly went completely unpunished! Grove were now completely
in the ascendancy and throwing everything at Beaconsfield and this paid off when, following a beautiful
pass from Nathan Brooks, replacement hooker Jon North raced over into the left corner to score from
what was to be the last move of the game. Roger Sevier's second difficult conversion attempt rebounded
off the upright and the game was over with Beaconsfield the unlikely victors at 19 : 24. This defeat
has caused Grove to slip from 3rd to 4th place in the league although they do have three games in hand
over Milton Keynes, who have replaced them.

Grove Team T Eltham, S Sherwood, J Wallbridge, J Chapman, J Kerr, L Wright, G Nicholl, B Nicholl,
J Needlekoff, R Sevier, S Cramp, B Law, N Sevier, J Burns, A Lane Reps G Eltham, J North,N Brooks
Scorers: Tries - N Sevier, S Cramp, J North Conversions - R Sevier 2