I caught up with the Championship 1 clash between CIYMs and Grosvenor on Saturday afternoon at Belmont, a match with plenty at stake between these local rivals.
Grosvenor started the game full of intent and they were 5 – 0 up after three minutes thanks to a cross field kick and touch down by Luke Hanson.
Ten minutes later the visitors were leading by 12 points as Stewart Smyth went over for Ben Johnston to convert.
CI got their pack rumbling and after a couple of darts at the line the ball was spun out to the wing where hooker Scott Finlay was waiting to dive for the line. An excellent conversion by Michael Lawton pulled the score back to 7 – 12.
However Grosvenor had the last word of the half as Hansen went over for his second on the stroke of half time to give Grosvenor a 7 – 19 lead as the teams changed ends.
Grosvenor’s Taylor Pollock picked up a try out wide at the start of the second half and it was looking a long road back for the home side as the score stretched to 7 – 24 in Grosvenor’s favour.
However they started to claw back seven minutes later with the pack leading the way. Hooker finlay went over for his second, converted by Lawton, to take it to 14 – 24 and six minute after that prop Charlie Shannon battled to the line to make it a one score game at 21 – 24 after Lawton added the extras.
The visitors knocked over a penalty to push it out to 21 – 27 with well over 10 minutes remaining and CI spent the rest of the game hammering away for a match winning converted try.
The home team came mighty close with minutes left but a spot of indiscipline as the pressure ramped saw CI marched 15 meters away from the try line before Johnston sent them back into their own territory with the penalty .
Grosvenor kept them pinned in their own half for the remaining minutes which left the Stags celebrating at the final whistle.
Match gallery
Pictures by John McMurtry and Matthew McGonigle
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