Belfast High School Rugby Team Notes: Grosvenor GS Rugby I XV 23 v Belfast High School Rugby I XV 13: Report + Pictures

Grosvenor hosted BHS on Saturday which on current form should have been a straight forward victory but it was far from that. The match was a hard fought match with no quarter given and with nothing in it at the start. High School took the lead after a period of pressure Grosvenor conceded a penalty which was slotted home for a 0 –3 lead to BHS. After the restart again it was nip and tuck between the two teams but Grosvenor took the lead when they drove over to score the first score of the match. The conversion was missed to leave the score 5 – 3.
CLICK HERE FOR 147 Pictures – Big thank you to Gary Benson for these.
By this stage BHS had started to be the dominant pack in the scrum and where very solid on their own ball and putting severe pressure on the Grosvenor ball. It was BHS’s turn to take the lead when High Schools No.13 chipped through and fought off an of the ball tackle to hack on and touch down for the lead. The conversion was successful for a 5 – 10 lead to BHS at HT. In the second half it was as it was in the first, very tight. High School looked to be the stronger of the sides by this stage as they were giving Grosvenor an torrid time in the scrum and should have had numerous penalty’s throughout the game as the Grosvenor No.3 was turning in at every scrum but the referee was just happy to call him out to have a word. It was however Grosvenor who went on to the win. The second of Grosvenor’s try’s was scored when the ball was kicked through and High School’s No.15 knocked on while trying to go down on a awkwardly bouncing ball . From the scrum Grosvenor went through several pick and goes until they eventually crossed the line for a deserved try. The conversion was successful for a 12 – 10 lead. The lineout wasn’t going that good for Grosvenor as well with High Schools No.5 taking at least 5 against the throw. High School then came back at Grosvenor again and after getting themselves in good field position pressured Grosvenor into conceding a penalty which they got to make the score 12 – 13. Shortly after BHS had a chance to extend the lead but missed the penalty to remain at 12 –13. It was Grosvenor’s turn to be awarded the penalty’s and were awarded two in a row which were converted to lead 18 –13. The match ended with Grosvenor getting a late try that was well taken by their No.10 chipping over the flat defence of BHS and with no one at home gathered and touched down to make it 23 –13. The conversion was missed and it ended 23 –13. BHS rued the penalty’s that should have gone their way but can take great store from this strong performance with their School’s Cup match against Larne this coming Saturday. To finish, it still seems that what goes on in the scrum is still lost to some referee’s and could have made a difference to the end result. As it is, it didn’t and Grosvenor finished well to deserve the win and will look forward to their Schools Cup run.