As the lunch guests were just finishing their desserts, Grosvenor had already scored in the opening minutes with a try from Stuart Smyth. Unfortunately the easy conversion was missed. Grosvenor 5 Limavady 0. This match saw 9th play 10th in Championship 1. 10th will be relegated to Championship 2 and 9th will have a play off against the runners-up in C2.
Despite the early set back, Limavady played with style and great commitment. On the other hand Grosvenor were lethargic and maybe the early try made them think that this was an easy game. The Limavady left wing ran in a good try out wide and it was converted for a 7-5 lead. Grosvenor were falling off tackles, dropping the ball, trying unnecessary offloads and generally playing into the hands of their opponents. Added to this an injury saw James Bowman have to take the field. From another defensive frailty, the Limavady no 8 strode in for their second try which again was excellently converted by their no 9/ 14-5 to the visitors. The game was fast flowing, great interpassing , midfield breaks, spillages, penalties but it was Limavady who raced into a 21-5 lead with another converted try. Grosvenor's woes continued as Jack Breen was taken off injured. Grosvenor struck a penalty to the corner and after many phases, Jamie McNeight scored and the try was converted, half time score 21-12 to Limavady.
The second half opened with searing breaks form Ferris and Swift but the final pass went astray. The intense pressure from the home side eventually told with a try by James McMaster, converted by Ben Johnston, 19-21. Grosvenor's kick-off reception was poor again and a penalty was awarded to Limavady and their trusty no 9 converted 19-24. Grosvenor were showing good resolve and as the crowd bemoaned a kick through to the Limavady line, Ben Johnston pounced on it for a try which brought the score to 24-24. Grosvenor were in the ascendancy and Peter Davison scored a try to put Grosvenor into the lead 29-24. Despite missing the conversion, Ben Johnston subsequently was successful with 2 penalties, increasing the Grosvenor lead to 35-24. As the game was into injury time, Grosvenor's defence held out brilliantly by holding the ball up over the line, forcing two goal line drop-outs. However, mismanagement of these situations allowed Limavady to score a converted try to bring the final score to 35-31. The Grosvenor elation at achieving 5 bonus points was tempered by the fact that we had allowed our opponents to gain 2 valuable losing bonus points. I hope that does not come back to haunt us.
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