East Grinstead 26 - Blues Two's 27

Due to the poor pitch conditions at East Grinstead they accepted our offer to play the top of the table showdown at Waterhall on our excellent all-weather pitch.

We had taken some time out at training leading up to this fixture to try and work out why it was that we seem to start slowly and get forced into chasing games. In recent fixtures this was certainly the case. At Uckfield we managed to sort things out but we were taught a hard lesson at Effingham and Leatherhead.

The discussion before the warm up was all about mental preparation.

The response of the boys to their kick off was immediate with excellent reactions to spilled ball resulting in a try in the first passage of play. The G’s restart saw us run the ball straight back again and had the final pass only gone to hand then it would have been two tries in as many minutes.

The collective mind-set and momentum continued with a jinking run and powerful drive taking the Two’s over again and, although no extras were added we were two scores up and looking comfortable. Too comfortable in fact because to their credit East Grinstead got themselves focussed, steadied their ship and started putting good phases of play together. Strong tackling and ball carrying by their big mobile players shifted the momentum resulting in two tries in quick succession. A well struck conversion took them into the lead.

We pegged one back with a fine show-and-go by our stand out second-rower to go into the lead at half time having borne the brunt of a disciplined Grinstead reply to our excellent start.

It was clear that this was already an epic encounter.

Grinstead came out the more determined side after the break and forced an error near our try line. Confident finishing meant we were once again behind but every phase of play brought the possibility of another score to either side.

As can happen there were marginal decisions that went against us but any frustration was channelled into positive action on the pitch. There was no negativity when we were pressured into making mistakes just an extra effort to make amends. A key moment in the match came following a great move started by a snaffled ball in the ruck. Quick hands to our lightening-fast winger meant he was clear through only for the pass to have been deemed to have gone forward. That would have put us two scores up with the game entering the final stages.

The resulting scrum and some clever running resulted in a touch down and converted score which once again took G’s into the lead with the clock running down the final two minutes of normal time.

Again the Two's kept their heads up and looked to push on for one last effort. We knew there would certainly be a scrum or two left and given the pattern of the game we would be on the wrong end of the decisions. Our starting hooker who had been on all game was clearly tiring and we needed to get fresh legs into that crucial position. Sure enough we were pinged again twice in a row but this time our pack put in a massive effort and along with some inspired striking of the ball we won both against the head.

Excellent work on the back of this late domination at the scrum resulted in a crashing score to take us just one point clear with what was surely the last move of the game.

But it wasn’t quite over. Injury time meant several further passages of play and a penalty allowed the to G’s set off once more on another spirited run only to knock-on in what was eventually called the last move of the game.

It was a tough game to win but will have been a tougher one to lose. The East Grinstead squad all played their part in a classic hard fought but sporting encounter showing excellent skills, strength and determination right up to the final whistle..

With the Blues also winning their encounter with Chichester albeit by a slightly more comfortable score line both sides can go into the New Year top of their groups with maximum points.

Scoring:

5-0 Luke
10-0 Henry
10-7
10-12
17-12 Ed
Half-time
17-19
22-19 Charles
22-26
27-26 Ed

Toby, Matias, Dan G, Regan, Luke, Aran, Charles, Ed, Barney, Oskar, Harry W, Harry P, Aidan, James, Thomas, Jack, Alfie, Max, Henry H, Henry E, Angus, Zak.